Wired to Hunt: Recent Episodes
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Trail cameras have become a staple for whitetail hunters, especially over the past decade. Where legal, they can be handy tools for locating and hunting deer or other game animals. They’re especially effective if you’re interested in targeting a specific size or age structure of deer (i.e. a target buck), and can help you hone in on that deer’s home range. Consider that cellular trail cameras make this information even more accessible and immediate.
Of course, you’ll need to avoid a few common mistakes if you want to get the most out of your trail camera strategy. If you’re considering running trail cameras for your whitetail or other big game pursuits, this guide can help you figure out everything from choosing one to finding the best spots to place them all season long.
Types of Trail CamerasTraditionalTraditional trail cameras don’t give you immediate access to photos and videos, but they also don’t require cellular service to function. Trail cameras require SD cards and tons of batteries to run. Depending on the weather conditions and batteries, you might have to change them multiple times in a season. If you’re lucky, you might have a camera that lasts you an entire season or longer before you need to change the batteries.
You also have to regularly check your camera, if you want to stay up-to-date on your intel. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until the season’s over before you go pull your SD cards.
CellularUnlike traditional trail cameras, cellular trail cams allow you to view your photos and videos without physically checking your camera. This means you can monitor deer activity without putting pressure on a specific hunting area.
Unfortunately, cell cams only work in areas where they can get good service. Otherwise, you’ll have to go pull your SD card or move your camera to a spot with service, which defeats the purpose of having a cellular trail cam.
One of the benefits of having a cellular trail camera, like the Moultrie Edge 4 is that you can easily organize and store your photos in an app. You’ll save time and money when you don’t have to keep up with a pile of SD cards.
Trail Camera Strategies and PlacementWhile trail cameras can certainly provide incredible scouting info, it’s not as simple as placing one on just any tree. You have to consider trigger speed, distance, and false triggers. Where legal, you might have to do a little prep work to make sure you get the best photos possible. Depending on the time of year, you’ll want to consider where you should place your trail camera.
Consider the time of year. Are you summer scouting for whitetails, looking for season-long hunting data, monitoring the rut, or trying to find a buck’s core area. These factors will determine how you need to approach your camera setup.
- How to Set Up A Trail Camera
- Where to Place Trail Cameras in the Big Woods
- 3 Locations You Need to Put Trail Cameras This Summer
Where to Place CamerasFood sources, travel routes, terrain traps, and scrapes are great places to set your trail cameras. Ag fields, food plots, or feeders (where legal) can give you a good overview of your local deer herd. Travel routes like creek crossings, worn trails, soft edges naturally funnel deer through certain areas. Similarly, saddles, pinch points, benches, bluff gaps, etc. that might be difficult to hunt without busting deer can be good spots to leave a camera all season long. Of course, scrapes are natural communication hubs for deer, and the right ones might clue you into several different bucks using that area.
- How to Chum Whitetails
- How to Use Mock Scrapes in Summer
- How to Use Trail Cameras After the Rut
How to Set Up Trail CamerasMost hunters just find a tree and hang their camera at waist height. I’m not saying this is wrong or that you shouldn’t do it sometimes, but there might be a better way to set it up if you’re trying to make sure it doesn’t grab a mature buck’s attention.
Again, you’ll want to consider the time of year when you’re hanging a trail camera. There are also a few mistakes you can avoid to make sure your trail cam photos don’t suck. Luckily, trail cameras like Moultrie’s Edge 4 allow you to utilize features like Live Aim to fine-tune your setup and see exactly what’s in frame.
- 5 Mistakes Deer Hunters Make with Trail Cameras
- 7 Reasons Your Trail Cam Photos Suck
- How to Make Trail Camera Batteries Last Longer
Trail Camera Laws and Fair ChaseTrail cameras have sparked contentious debates since they first came out. A lot of western states have even banned them on public lands for portions of the hunting season. Arizona actually banned them outright for the purposes of scouting or hunting. Just this year, Idaho banned the use of cellular trail cameras on public lands throughout its hunting season.
Some states that ban trail cameras on public lands might allow them on private lands. Others allow cellular trail cameras but restrict hunters from using immediate intel to hunt that same day. Trail camera rules vary by state, so make sure you research your local regulations before purchasing one.
Trail Camera MistakesOne of the main ways you can derail your hunting is by relying solely on trail cam pics to determine where you hunt. While cameras might clue you into a big buck’s habits, they can give you plenty of red herrings. A single picture of a buck might mean he’s living in the area or simply passing through. You need more information to confirm or deny that theory. Scout around, look for tracks, rubs, potential bedding areas, or spend a few evenings behind some glass to get a visual if you can. Use that picture as a piece of the puzzle.The worst thing you can do is plan your whole hunting season around one image and miss the rest of the story.
You can also sabotage your setups by checking your cameras too often, leaving you scent and potentially bumping deer. This reason alone makes a compelling case for cellular trail cameras.
Trail Cams Tell Part of the Story, Not the WholeTrail cameras are great tools for giving an estimate of your local deer herd. They can give you great intel, but they won’t tell you the whole story.
Just because you don’t get any trail camera pics one day, doesn’t mean the deer aren’t tearing it up at that location. I once watched a pile of deer feed just out of range of a camera. If I hadn’t been hunting that day, I would have assumed the woods were dead. You can’t believe everything your cameras show (or don’t). Make sure they aren’t making you a worse hunter. Use camera intel to inform your hunting strategy, not dictate it.
- How Trail Cameras Made Me A More Patient Buck Hunter
- You’re Using Trail Cameras Wrong
- Why You Should Reconsider Your Trail Cam Strategy
- 3 Best Trail Camera Locations During the Rut
- 3 Best Trail Camera Locations For Pre-Rut
- How to Get the Most Out of Your Pre-Season Trail Cameras
Final ThoughtsTrail cams aren’t just for the whitetail woods. Where legal, you can use them to locate elk, turkeys, bears, or other critters. Just make sure you follow local rules and regulations. Like with deer hunting, trail cameras can be a convenient tool when it comes to hunting. They can give you great intel, but you’ll have to use your woodsmanship and critical thinking to decipher what it means.
On a recent ride to the grocery store, I pointed out a flock of geese to my daughters. My five-year-old piped up and told me she wanted to shoot one of them with her bow. I didn’t point out the legal or logistical barriers to her endeavor, but I did feel a huge sense of pride welling up. I knew it was a sign that maybe I was doing something right.
If you have a family or little ones, you know how challenging it can be to balance life and hunting. Joining the two naturally makes sense. While there’s a fine line between cultivating an interest in hunting and making it a chore no one wants to do, you can gradually introduce your kids to it by letting them tag along with you. Besides, if you’re trying to score some brownie points for the fall, giving your spouse or significant other a little me-time can help you do just that.
Even if you just want to introduce them to scouting, here are a few ways to summer scout with your kids that don’t involve running them through a mini bootcamp.
Just RideWhen he was still alive, my grandfather would load me and my cousins into his Toyota pickup, and we’d ride through his hunting club. He did this year-round but especially during the summer. Sometimes we’d stop to check blackberry patches in recent cut-overs or look for ripe persimmons or summer grapes dropping into the gravel roads. My grandfather had plenty of stories tied to these spots. As he drove, he’d point across a cut-over to where he’d once killed a turkey or an SMZ where he shot a buck and ran his truck into the ditch after loading it up.
He rarely made these rides about hunting, even though I know he used them as little scouting trips. They were a great way to include me and my cousins, and those rides, along with my grandfather’s stories, made us look forward to hunting season.
Even if you don’t leave the truck, riding gives you an easy way to get the kids out of the house and show them something new. You can monitor spots from the road, glass, or even try door knocking. Either way, it doesn’t take a ton of effort.
Hang a Few Trail CamsI recently made the mistakes of dragging my two daughters with me to hang a trail cam during the hottest part of the day. Normally, this little trip wouldn’t be an issue for them, but it was a long, hot walk (way to go, Dad). It wasn’t long before the tears started and I was swatting mosquitos while haphazardly putting their hair into buns. Luckily, there’s a way to include your kids on a trail cam mission without collective and instant regret.
As long as you take them early in the morning or late in the evening, setting a trail camera with your kids is a great way to include them in scouting. Depending on their age, make sure the walk or hike doesn’t feel like the journey to Mordor. Otherwise, there won’t be a repeat trip. If it feels like fun to them, they’re more likely to want to do it again or even help you during your set up process.
Don’t only include them in the work process either. My girls love seeing photos and videos of deer or other critters, and it’s a way to show them that the “work” we did to hang those cameras actually paid off.
Teach Them How to GlassIn my home office, I have a pair of binoculars that lives on my desk. Every time my girls come visit me throughout the day, it’s the first thing they reach for before heading to the window. Why? Because glassing is cool whether you’re 5 or 35.
Glassing from the road can be an effective way to summer scout without putting pressure on deer. It’s also an easy one for kids, because they get to ride in the A/C and you don’t have to worry about hosing them down with bug spray. Plus, you can bring snacks. If there’s one thing that will keep kids interested, it’s snacks.
You can also teach them how to glass. It’s not the same glassing that’s required to spot the ear twitch of a bedded deer, just the casual viewing of a few deer feeding in a field. It’s also worth noting that you don’t have to glass where you plan on hunting. There’s valuable intel in just observing deer, even if you can’t hunt them. Besides, your kids won’t know the difference either.
Final ThoughtsIf you’re hoping to get your kids into hunting, scouting trips can be a great intro. Just remember to keep it simple. The goal is to help them enjoy the outdoors, not resent them.
Logging cuts, also known as clear-cuts, are some of the best places to find mature bucks in the big woods. They provide a focal point in an otherwise monotonous landscape. You can also readily spot them while e-scouting. The problem is, everyone else realizes this too. While clear-cuts attract deer for bedding or browse, they also attract a lot of pressure.
Luckily, whitetails adapt regardless of hunting pressure, and logging cuts can still hold mature bucks. You just need to stop hunting them like everyone else. Take a step back and evaluate how you’re hunting an area. After that, you’ll need to get some boots on the ground, ask the right questions, and look for the subtle details everyone else overlooks.
Scouting a Clear-CutWhether you’re dealing with a new or familiar hunting spot, you need to ground truth a clear-cut to validate, or invalidate, its condition. E-scouting is a great starting place, but boots-on-the-ground observations will always reveal more than GPS data is able to. Clear-cuts change quickly over a few years, and what you once knew may no longer apply.
If you’ve ever walked around a logging cut, then you know there is almost always a deer trail tracing the outside boundary. Don’t waste too much time, but walk that perimeter and note every deer trail entering and exiting the cut. Drop waypoints on any hubs you find. Water holes, creek crossings, and scrapes on intersecting trails are all important details that can help you hone your scouting efforts.
At some point along the cut’s edge, you’ll see an old two-track lane where machines brought logs in and out of it. You should be able to see where that lane branches. Follow the main path first, then investigate the branches if time allows. This will give you a basic understanding of how deer move in the area.
Scouting for Buck SignOnce you have an idea of how deer generally use a specific clear-cut, you’ll need to dial in your scouting efforts to look for buck sign. Glassing, observation sits, and trail cameras are great options for gathering intel. The goal is to determine how deer are using the area during daylight hours.
Try to determine whether the deer are feeding in the cut at night and returning to timber in the morning or if they’re bedding and browsing in the heavy cover all day. It might seem like they’re bedding in plain sight, but if you’ve hunted a thick cut, you know how easily any deer can disappear. Especially mature bucks.
While you might find the obvious sign for most of the herd, mature bucks tend to operate a little differently outside of the rut. Bucks reach maturity by avoiding danger, so by the time one reaches its fifth birthday, it’s pretty good at staying alive.
A concentration of big rubs would be a great sign, but in low deer-density areas, you might not get that. Don’t overlook tracks. If you happen to find a big one, drop a waypoint or even take a picture. That way, you can compare it to others that you find.
The SubtletiesIn a logging cut, not every trail belongs to a mature buck, but it can pay to follow a few obscure trails. You just need to find a place where a mature buck can loaf for extended periods of time and let his guard down.
One old buck I scouted over a few years spent a good portion of his time feeding in a clear-cut. Occasionally he daylighted there, and I always wondered what was different on those days. One summer while scouting, I found a giant bed tucked between a pine and a laurel bush. It was in the direction he usually entered the cut. I figured that had to be a place he would spend the last minutes of daylight before making an appearance.
A deer trail led away from that bed and down a steep, rocky hillside that seemed like a place most deer would avoid. At the bottom, the terrain leveled into a flat dotted with smaller rocks. In the center of the flat, without much surrounding cover, there was a scraggly tree. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to break up a buck’s outline.
Behind that tree was another giant bed. A well-worn trail wrapped around it with fresh scat nearby. It didn’t scream typical hill country buck sign, but it taught me to stop making assumptions about mature bucks.
Find A WeaknessEven mature bucks let their guards down. There will always be a place and time where he feels a false sense of security. It’s our job as deer hunters to figure that out.
A lot of times, these places happen to be staging areas. Maybe it’s a transition or a soft edge that leads from a clear-cut into the timber. Sometimes you might find a track in these places or a rub near a subtle trail. You might find browsing sign that other hunters overlook. Other times you’ll have to listen to your gut and just hunt it with the best possible conditions.
Either way, experience and observation are the best teachers. Pay attention to the small details and create theories based on what you find. If it doesn’t work, keep trying. That’s half the fun of it.
When most people think of New York, deer hunting might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But this fall, roughly 500,000 resident hunters and another 40,000 nonresidents will take to the state's woods in pursuit of whitetails. This year, however, they'll have a few new regulations to follow before heading into the field as well as some new opportunities.
In June 2026, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) finalized its new Earn-a-2nd-Buck system, a change designed to encourage hunters to harvest more antlerless deer.
Under the new system, every licensed deer hunter will receive one antlered deer tag. However, hunters who harvest and report an antlerless deer using a Deer Management Permit (DMP), Bow/Muzzleloader Antlerless Deer Tag, or Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) tag can earn the opportunity to receive a second antlered deer tag. Once that antlerless deer is properly reported, hunters become eligible for another buck tag that can be used during those same deer seasons.
The new regulation is part of the DEC's broader effort to increase antlerless deer harvests and better manage New York's growing deer population. Because does are the reproductive engine of the herd, wildlife managers often rely on increased antlerless harvest to slow population growth.
According to a March 2026 NYS News release announcing the proposed regulations, “During recent hunting seasons, less than 15% of licensed hunters harvested one antlerless (primarily female) deer and only about 3% of hunters harvested two or more antlerless deer. The proposed regulations are intended to encourage and incentivize hunters to harvest more antlerless deer to help better manage deer populations.”
At the moment, overharvest doesn't seem to be a concern with this regulation change. “Deer populations are growing across much of New York and, in many areas, are increasing to levels that are detrimental to deer, their habitat, and the public,” NYSDEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said.
Hunters planning to pursue whitetails in New York this fall can find additional information about the Earn-a-2nd-Buck system, along with answers to frequently asked questions, on the NYSDEC’s website or the New Hunting Regulations to Increase Harvest of Antlerless Deer Q&A page.
The agency has also implemented several other deer hunting regulation changes for the 2026 season, including expanded antlerless hunting opportunities, modifications to Deer Management Permit issuance and transfers, and updates to broadhead regulations. Hunters are encouraged to review the full list of changes before heading afield.
Moultrie’s new Edge 4 Solar looks to mitigate the problem all trail cameras share—battery life. Between the new, larger solar panel and the included rechargeable battery, you can reduce your battery budget and trips to change them out. Moultrie’s newest version of the Edge doesn’t reinvent the wheel. Instead, it makes subtle, thoughtful improvements to an already feature-rich trail camera.
I was able to get my hands on the Edge 4 Solar before it dropped. Here are my initial thoughts.
Specs and Features Network: Connects to any of the Big 4 * Memory: Built-in * Power: Includes rechargeable battery * Max Photo Resolution: 40 MP * Video Resolution: 1080P * Trigger Speed: 0.4 seconds * Detection and Flash Range: 100 ft. * OnX Hunt integration*
Upgrades from Edge 3 Waterproof: IP67 design * Buckshot: Sends zoomed-in max-res buck pics * Night Clarity:* Enhanced IR LEDs for night pics
First Look at the Moultrie Edge 4 SolarI just received the Edge 4 Solar this summer, so I haven’t had the chance to test it in harsh, wintry conditions. However, I’ve tested every iteration of the Moultrie Edge so far, and the improved photo and nighttime video quality in the 4 Solar is evident.
The same day I deployed this camera, I received a video of a doe investigating the scrape where it was placed. Some of the prior Edge or Edge Pro cameras tend to blur at night, but Moultrie improved that dilemma with the IR LEDs. As you can see below, the video quality is crisp without blurs or flares. Even the resolution in the background appears to be improved from the Edge 3.
Moultrie’s New Edge 4 Solar includes some of the same great features as previous models like the OnX integration, built-in memory with GPS, and the Live Aim, which allows for a quick, seamless setup.
New features for the Edge 4 Solar include a larger solar panel, Night Clarity (improved IR LEDs), an IP67 waterproof rating, and Buck Shot, which automatically sends zoomed-in pictures of bucks. The door on the camera also got an upgrade. Instead of the typically latch that the other Edge cameras have, the Edge 4 uses a button to open and close the controls panel, which streamlines the camera body and prevents it from snagging on anything.
Solar Panel and Set UpOne of the advantages of cellular trail cameras (where legal) is that they allow you to set it and forget it, given that you’ve found a proven spot. This is especially critical if you want to monitor a property from a few states away. The Moultrie Edge 4 Solar allows you to do this, thanks to the rechargeable battery and enlarged solar panel. MeatEater's own Janis Putelis highlighted the utility of the Edge 4's solar panel.
"Once I find the right spot for the camera, the only reason for me to touch it is if a bear turns it."
The solar panel has two adjustment wheels that allow you to position it in the direction that receives the most sunlight. This is critical for maximizing the charging capabilities, and it only takes a few moments to fine tune. I set up my Edge 4 Solar just inside a tree line that borders a cutover. It doesn’t get direct sunlight throughout the day, but it gets enough. So far my batter has been hovering around 96-98%. I have it placed on a travel route that doesn't truly heat up until October, but you should expect more battery drainage if you place it at a feeder or anywhere deer linger.
It only takes a matter of minutes to have your Moultrie Edge 4 up and running.
OrganizationRun enough trail cameras, and it’s easy to lose a few of them, especially if you cover a lot of public ground. The OnX integration ensures that you won’t forget about your Moultrie Edge 4 after the season ends or you decide to move them to a new spot. In fact, Moultrie has a quick, convenient tutorial here on how to sync your Edge cameras with OnX.
What makes the Edge 4 Solar, and all the edge cameras, so effective is Moultrie’s user-friendly and robust app. The cataloging, OnX integration, and organization make it easy to keep track of various properties, deer, and cameras. If you're someone who prioritizes strategic organization for your hunting intel, especially whitetails, the app alone should appeal to you.
Final ThoughtsIf you’re already familiar with the app, then you know how streamlined and effective it can make your trail camera strategy. If you’re looking to add a cellular trail cam to your scouting regiment, you should put this one at the top of your list. Check out the Edge 4 right here.
It wasn’t intentional, but I’m glad I did it. Over the last couple of seasons, I put out my usual summer trail cameras to gather pre-season intel. Some, I re-upped on batteries, while others just ran until they couldn’t. A few, built with solar panels, kept a charge through the North Country winter.
What those year-round cameras did for me was change how I view whitetails, particularly bucks. One of the most interesting takeaways involves predators and their impact on deer movement. Here are a few things I learned from year-round intel.
Toothy Critters & Cagey BucksBack when we filmed the first season of One Week in November, I started my hunt on a property in south-eastern Minnesota. The first morning, while sitting over a pinch point and waiting on a cruising buck, I watched a forky bound through like he’d seen a ghost. A little while later, a coyote came down the main trail.
I figured that might be it for the morning, but it was the first of November and I had nowhere else to be, so I rode it out. An hour later I was standing over a 155-inch eight-pointer that came down the same trail. It was a good lesson, but it was still the prime rut where anything can happen.
The presence of predators at other times of the year must have a more outsized impact on immediate deer movement, or so I thought. After a couple years of running year-round trail cameras in northern Wisconsin, where the density of bears, wolves, coyotes, and bobcats is high, the truth became more evident.
I realized that at least with bears, coyotes, and bobcats, their presence seemed to have a short-lived effect on overall deer movement in the same locations, while wolves seemed to have a much more meaningful impact. While my sample size is small and highly anecdotal, my observations showed me two things.
If a single wolf comes in and hangs around, which happened a couple years ago on a property I hunt a lot, it seems like the deer traffic normalizes pretty quickly. An entire pack is a different story. This happened on that same property last year, and it pushed a heck of a lot of the deer and the coyotes to the fringe habitat closer to the roads and houses. It was a real eye opener, and one I probably won’t forget any time soon.
Terrain Traps RuleOne spot I’ve run cameras on pretty much steady for three seasons is a pinch point next to a swamp. It’s not a very obvious terrain trap, but definitely funnels deer movement. It’s a rut hotspot, for obvious reasons.
It’s also one of the most consistent locations I’ve ever found for just general deer movement, which becomes much clearer when you hunt where the deer density is really low. Deer use that swamp edge all year long, with enough frequency to realize that focusing on terrain traps for mostly rut hunting is selling the whole thing way short.
While we all love sitting over a good food source or maybe a water source, if you want to have deer close and vulnerable, figure out the land. Learn where the deer have to walk, and then hang a camera and wait. Over three years I’ve watched that spot produce more action than I ever would have predicted. Hunt those pinch points and funnels during the rut, but don’t forget they can produce every day of the season if the deer have any reason to walk from one side to the other (which they probably do).
What We Know About ScrapesA week or so ago, I got a trail camera video of a young buck visiting a scrape. He raked his velvet antlers on the overhanging branches and just did his thing. I showed it to one of my daughters, because in the 2024 season we sat 40 yards from that scrape with a doe decoy out. With half an hour of shooting light left, a young buck popped out of the swamp, eyed up his potential girlfriend, and then put on a show. He pawed that scrape up, peed in it, stood on his hind legs, and raked the branches overhead. Then he made the mistake of trotting into bow range.
I’d rather hunt around a bunch of rubs than a community scrape for most of the season. The middle 10 days of October are an exception, but I am fascinated by scrapes. I’ve left cameras on a few of them for a couple years, and I’ve learned that I don’t know shit about scrapes and why deer use them.
They visit them every month of the year, and while they don’t always go to town and work them, it seems like every single deer that comes in will at least give the licking branch a little sniff and a taste. I’ve come to believe that the urine-soaked dirt is important, but not nearly as important as the licking branch. That doesn’t really matter much to a hunting strategy, but it’s an interesting takeaway.
It’s also just fun to realize that some of the sign we associate strictly with fall activity actually functions as a communication tool all season long. I never would have learned that if I had been responsible and pulled some of my cameras at the end of the season.
After hauling my two daughters through spider webs, oppressive heat, and a few meltdowns to drop a new trail camera at one of my hunting spots, I started reconsidering whether or not my summer scouting efforts were worth it.
While summer scouting might benefit you come October, do you really need to burn the boot leather during beach season to have success this fall? After all, plenty of hunters fill their tags on quick out-of-state hunts with no prior experience in a place. Here are a few reasons to consider whether or not you need to spend a ton of time summer scouting.
Pattern ChangesGetting a buck on camera in August is great, but that hardly guarantees you’ll wrap your tag around him come October. Unless you’re planning on hunting an early September opener, your scouting intel from August probably won’t tell you where the deer will be this fall.
That doesn’t mean summer scouting can’t offer you valuable intel. You could look for historical sign, travel routes, and potential bedding cover to determine if you should revisit a spot in the fall. But you could also do that in February when the snakes, ticks, and spiders aren’t out. Besides, if you’re scouting an area where deer are browsing on new green briar shoots, honeysuckle, and other seasonal vegetation, that will change after summer.
Fresh Intel is the Best IntelI’m not saying you should procrastinate your scouting duties. Instead, you should be more methodical in how and when you execute them. I enjoy watching a velvet buck slip out of a cutover or cross a field, but I’d much rather find a big track as I’m scouting my way into an evening hunt in October.
Prioritizing a few intentional days of scouting just before the season opens (or even during) can give you more real-time intel than hacking your way through the middle of summer. It’s easy to think that you have to spend as much time on stand as possible during the season, but that time on stand doesn’t really help if you aren’t hunting the deer where they’re at.
Instead of hanging and hoping in a random spot, go in super early and scout your way into a place. Done right, this is the true benefit of mobile hunting. Look for fresh tracks, droppings, and feeding sign to tell you where to set up.
If you’re hunting acorns in early October, you should find this feeding sign under a tree that’s dropping. Now, you might not know the caliber of bucks in that area, but some fresh tracks might give you a clue.
Winter Scout FirstDropping a few cameras or hanging stands during the summer is one thing, but you should already have these spots marked from historical data. This might seem counterintuitive, but finding fresh rubs or scrapes at the end of deer season is much closer to when you’ll actually hunt them as opposed to the middle of July.
Winter scouting gets talked about a lot, but it’s something that few hunters actually do. I get it, you’ve slogged through an entire deer season, burned all your brownie points, and probably feel slopes-of-Mount-Doom levels of exhaustion. But even a few days of winter scouting can go a long way.
Assuming nothing drastic happens to the landscape or local deer herd, there’s a good chance the intel you find winter scouting will show you how to hunt a certain area the next year. That way, you can focus on the archery range and dialing in your setups during the summer months.
Final ThoughtsFor most folks, you don’t need to make a special summer trip just to scout. Even if you’re planning a multi-day out-of-state hunt, take a day to scout a few areas instead of going in blind. You’ll have hot intel on the deer come fall without skipping out on a few cold ones this summer.
For most of my bowhunting career, I've carried a compound bow. But the very first time I toted a bow to the whitetail woods, I carried a borrowed Bear recurve. No deer were harmed on that first day, but I’ll never forget the feeling of walking into the woods with that lightweight recurve at my side.
I appreciate the speed, accuracy, and technology that modern compounds offer. You can make shots on deer with a compound that you wouldn’t dream of doing with traditional equipment. But there is something primal about hunting with a traditional bow. It’s nostalgic and draws me back to my traditional roots whenever I feel the need for a change.
Despite all the progress with modern equipment, it seems like every year more bowhunters need to scratch the traditional itch. Some make the switch permanently, while others want a new challenge for a season or two. Either way, there's something about traditional archery that intrigues hunters.
If you're considering making the swap to traditional archery this season, here are four reasons to make the jump.
A New ChallengeIf you've been bowhunting for years, it's easy to fall into a routine or even autopilot with modern compound bows. You shoot your bow all summer, dial in your effective range, and maybe you’ve experienced a decent amount of success in the deer woods. If you’re craving a new challenge, a traditional bow can deliver that.
There's no let-off, peep sight, release aid, no rangefinders, and no sliding sight pins—just a simple stick and string. Because the shot depends more on your ability to repeat a successful process, you have to practice more intentionally than you might with a compound. Traditional archery is less about punching groups and more about building instinctive shooting skills.
That challenge doesn't stop at the range either. The limited range of traditional archery forces hunters to get uncomfortably close to game. This forces you to develop better woodsmanship and sharper scouting skills to create more precise shot opportunities. You'll look at the woods differently when your max range shrinks to 20 yards. Every trail, pinch point, and bedding area becomes an opportunity to close the distance.
Simplify Your SetupModern bowhunting sometimes feels more like managing equipment than hunting. Unless you buy a ready-to-hunt bow, you’ll need to buy sights, a release, maybe a stabilizer, quiver, rangefinder, dampeners, and the list goes on. None of these things are bad. They all serve a purpose, but compound bows have a lot of moving pieces and some you don’t even need.
Traditional archery offers a refreshing alternative. Most recurves and longbows are incredibly simple. No moving parts, extra gadgets, or excessive tuning. You simply grab your bow, a handful of arrows, and head for the woods.
There's a certain freedom that comes with simplicity. Instead of worrying about whether your sight got bumped or if you remembered your release, you can focus on the hunt itself. You become more connected to the experience and less dependent on equipment.
You’re Tired of Your Heavy BowYou don’t realize how heavy compound bows can get until you’re several miles back on a hunt. By the time you add a sight, quiver, stabilizer, arrows, and other accessories, it's not uncommon for a hunting bow to weigh eight to ten pounds or more. That might not seem like much until you have to carry it all day through the mountains.
Traditional bows offer a dramatically lighter alternative. Many recurves and longbows weigh just two to three pounds. Even with a quiver, you're often carrying less than half the weight of a fully outfitted compound setup.
For elk hunters covering miles of mountain country, public-land deer hunters navigating rough terrain, or anyone who enjoys spot-and-stalk hunting, a lighter bow can make a noticeable difference. Less weight means less fatigue, more mobility, and more enjoyment during long days in the field. Sure, you’re trading that weight for effective archery range, but if you prefer to hunt close to your game, it’s probably worth it.
The author with a nice buck. Brodie Swisher
Every Hunt Means MoreWhen compound hunters swap to traditional, their definition of success usually changes too. It’s easy to focus on a certain class of deer with a compound bow. But when you carry a traditional bow, every successful hunt feels like a huge accomplishment.
If you think a mature buck is a trophy, try shooting any deer with a traditional bow. The rush and accomplishment of shooting a doe or small buck with a stick and string is hard to beat. My first trad bow kill was a spike. I thought I had accomplished something that day, walking out of the woods with a longbow in one hand and dragging that little buck with the other.
A squirrel, rabbit, or grouse all feel like a trophy when you’ve got a trad bow in your hand. Traditional archery has a way of shifting the focus away from antler measurements and toward the overall hunting experience.
Final ThoughtsSwitching from a compound bow to a traditional bow isn't for everyone. It requires patience and consistent practice. You’ll have to shrink your effective range and be okay with passing deer that you probably could have shot with a compound. It requires a steeper learning curve, but that’s part of what makes it so rewarding when you arrow an 80-pound doe. You may not shoot as many animals, but you might just rediscover why you became a bowhunter in the first place. And that's a trade worth considering.
As an admitted bass geek, I paid somewhat close attention to the latest Bassmaster Classic, which was held on the Tennessee River earlier this year. A relative newcomer to the scene, Dylan Nutt, took top honors in that prestigious tournament with a three-day bag weighing nearly 67 pounds. The win earned him a cool $300,000, and solidified his place amongst the most talented anglers in the world.
His win was predicated on a true understanding of how to use forward facing sonar, the latest iteration of the good old depth finder. This technology, which allows anglers to see and target fish that are out in front of their boat, is incredible. So incredible, in fact, that many anglers believe it’ll threaten fisheries once the cost comes down and the average weekend warrior gets ahold of it.
I share those concerns, and wonder what the future holds for fishermen. Especially those who target muskies, or catch-and-keep species like walleyes and panfish. State Game agencies across the country are actively looking at this issue as well, and there are whispers in the fishing sphere of scopin’ restrictions or outright bans.
Outdoorsman face issues like this on the water, and of course, in the woods. Deer hunting, and big game hunting in general, has its own technological divide. Cell cams, drones, and the increasing array of weaponry allowed all enter the conversation and as quickly as any political statement, divide us into factions. Some of this tech has already led to the creation of new laws.
Western Lands & Camera BansFive years ago, Arizona banned the use of trail cameras statewide. Officials ultimately argued that trail cams, and how hunters and outfitters use them, are deleterious to the resource and the pursuit.
Montana implemented trail camera usage restrictions, and so have Utah and Nevada. A few years ago, Kansas banned them on public land, and more recently, the state of Idaho passed House Bill 939, which prohibits hunters from using night vision optics, drones, thermal imaging, and cell cameras throughout the fall hunting seasons.
The arc of the trail camera highlights what happens to a lot of technology as it develops over time–they start out big, clunky, and pretty cumbersome. Trail cams used to be giant units, which ran off of D batteries and housed an actual disposable camera, like the ones folks used to leave on tables during weddings so guests could capture the night’s candid moments for the freshly minted couple.
Over time, the cameras got smaller, the use of physical film disappeared, and you can now receive images on your phone just seconds after they’re taken, thanks to a convenient antenna mounted on the camera.
I first ran across a cell camera at a booth during the ATA Show a long time ago, and one of the reps for the company explained to me that he used them to find strutting toms in the spring once the morning gobble-fest fizzled out. I remember thinking that I hated just about every part of that conversation. I also had enough foresight to realize that this was probably going to become a huge category for all hunters, especially whitetail hunters.
Guess what, it has. Now, it’s to the point where we are seeing backlash on their usage. But the genie is out of the bottle, and it’s hard to imagine a world where cell cameras are banned in much of the whitetail-dominated regions of the country–especially on private land.
Rules for TheeA lot of the debate around technology in the deer space revolves around fair chase. While codified into law in certain ways, fair chase is a moving target. In Kansas where cameras were banned on public land, hunters can still use cell cameras on private land over a pile of corn or on a feeder. It’s hard to argue fair chase in that case, when it only applies to folks who don’t have a lease, own land, or are lucky enough to have permission on private ground.
It’s not just cell camera enthusiasts catching all of the strays these days, either. Drones are a big topic as well, as their general price comes down and usage goes up. Like most technology, drones can prove to be a huge asset to a hunter who is on the verge of losing a mortally hit deer.
But drones can also be used to locate deer and pattern deer, with zero effort. This next-gen surveillance tool is ripe for bad actors to use to gain an unfair advantage over a critter that couldn’t possibly understand the new level of predation he’s being subjected to. Some states have gotten ahead of this issue, with others sure to follow. The same goes for thermal imaging.
The big question with current and future technologies is where (if anywhere) does it end?
The March Toward EasyHunters are masters of painting their preferred pursuits as challenging, while also working as hard as possible to remove most of the challenges. The hunter who grows deer and babysits them until they make the hitlist, will tell you that the real challenge is targeting only mature bucks, which glosses over the reality of creating ideal food sources, 24/7 monitoring with cell cameras, and a hunting style that often involves hiding in a comfortable elevated box blind.
The diehard public land hunter will use onX religiously, cameras if he can, and then a couple thousand dollars worth of gear including high-tech clothes, carbon-fiber sticks, a tree saddle, and really anything that can provide an edge. We accept all of this, because it’s just a part of the modern deer hunting game.
But are we going too far? On a broad scale, this can generally be measured by technology and its impact on the resource. If something comes out that increases the harvest noticeably, or would very easily turn nonhunting public opinion against us, it’s probably worth debate.
On a personal scale, it’s a different story. We draw our own lines in the sand. I’ll give you an example here, which involves my teenage daughters. They shoot crossbows, which is about as close to a vertical bow as I am to a skilled breakdancer. I have zero interest in hunting with that crossbow, but have zero problem taking my daughters out to hunt with it.
This is how personal hunting convictions, or whatever you want to call them, have always worked. Where you land personally depends on what you want from deer hunting, but where hunters land as a whole with these issues is a different story. One that will keep being written, and rewritten as new and more effective technology hits the scene.
My son and I were nervous as we made our way from the truck to the front door of a local landowner in hopes of securing hunting permission. The sign by the road said, “Beware of Dog,” but with 100 acres of prime hunting land on the line, we took our chances and headed for the front porch.
After a few raps on the door, the landowner opened, and I quickly referred to him by name. The familiarity seemed to put him at ease and we started talking about his farm and life. Ten minutes later, my son and I climbed back in the truck with fresh permission to hunt some of the finest deer ground in the county. Were we lucky? Maybe. But it’s a tactic I’ve used throughout the years to score permission many hunters won’t work for.
Thanks to onX, it’s a lot easier to gain new permissions than it used to be. While most hunters use onX to better understand public and private hunting access, there’s a host of other features that make it an excellent tool beyond just e-scouting.
Whether you're planting food plots, hanging treestands, tracking a wounded buck, or looking for new hunting permission, here are five onX Hunt tools every deer hunter should know.
Area Shape ToolIf you plant food plots, spray herbicides, or manage habitat, you need to utilize the Area Shape tool. Instead of guessing the size of a food plot or field, simply use the tool to draw the boundaries of the area you want to measure with your finger. Within seconds, you'll know exactly how many acres you need to prep for.
This means you won’t over-calculate seed requirements, fertilizer rates, lime applications, and herbicide needs. It’ll save you money and time in the long run.
Compass ModeHunters are notorious for misjudging distances. Luckily, the Compass Mode feature helps eliminate the guesswork. With a quick look, you can accurately determine distances to terrain features, field edges, pinch points, rivers, bedding cover, and even potential shot opportunities. This can be especially useful when you scout unfamiliar ground or need to plan stand locations.
Knowing exact distances allows you to make more precise decisions when it comes to setting up for a hunt. Bow and rifle hunters will both appreciate this feature when it comes time to hang a stand within bow range of a trail or on the edge of a long field.
Mark My LocationTreestand sites, bedding areas, scrape lines, rubs, food sources, and trail camera locations are all locations deer hunters need to remember. The Mark My Location feature allows you to save these spots with a simple tap. You can easily organize them and return to them anytime you need.
And one of the most underrated benefits is the ability to share these locations with friends and family (the ones you trust, of course). Need to show your hunting buddy exactly where a stand is located? Want your son or daughter to find a stand without getting lost? Simply share the waypoint. You can ditch the outdated (and haphazard) directions.
It's also a valuable safety feature. Sharing your exact hunting location with family members ensures someone always knows where you’re hunting should an emergency arise.
Tracking FeatureLike its name implies, the tracking feature records your movement as you travel through the woods, creating a digital breadcrumb trail. For starters, it's a tremendous aid for blood trailing a wounded deer. It’s easy to lose the trail during a recovery. Tracking allows you to see exactly where you have and haven’t been.
You can also use it to find your way back to the truck, especially on an unfamiliar property, in the dark. Because it tracks your distance, you can monitor how far you walk during scouting trips, shed hunts, or preseason habitat work, so you can know just how many miles you’ve covered.
Landowner InformationLandowner information is key when you’re trying to score new hunting ground. This feature removes a ton of guesswork and allows you to connect the dots as you prepare for the big ask. Instead of burning gas, you can identify who owns a parcel before ever knocking on a door.
There's something personable about using someone’s name, rather than starting the conversation with, "Do you own this property?" It’s a way to show landowners that you’ve put in some level of effort and respect in doing so. Those little details can go a long way when you're trying to gain hunting permission. It doesn’t always work, but it certainly helps.
Final ThoughtsIf you have onX, take a few minutes to explore these features if you aren’t familiar with them. You may discover that some of the most valuable hunting tools you own aren't in your pack—they're in your phone.
I was nine years into my public land hunting career when I first dipped my toe in the target-buck pool. The North Carolina hitlister showed up on my trail cameras just before Halloween, with pre-rut in full swing, and a gnarly heat wave set to roll in a week later.
With nearly a decade of experience in my rearview mirror, I made one of the dumbest hunting mistakes of my life—I stayed home on November 7. The temps hit 80 degrees, and I convinced myself that the deer would sit tight until dark.
Guess who cruised by my stand camera mid-morning?
I know what you’re thinking. Duh, that’s peak rut. There’s no weather on Earth that justifies sitting it out, because bucks will move regardless. It’s a fair point, but that experience reframed my entire attitude towards hunting in unexpectedly warm weather all season long. It should do the same for you.
Nature’s Air ConditioningFor most September whitetail openers, heat is inevitable. Deer are still munching on leafy greens in their summer coats, and a 10-degree increase from one day to the next isn’t likely to change their pattern much.
Flip a page or two on your calendar, and that 10-degree swing becomes something noticeable for deer that have put on a solid layer of fat and fluff. This is true over most of the whitetail’s range; even in the South, where it’s not uncommon for early-summer temperatures to reappear throughout the winter.
I stared for way too long at that daylight photo of the buck I named “Tank” when it dawned on me. He was panting his way to the creek below my stand. Even in late October, the temps forced that buck to search for water. Again, that probably sounds like a “duh” moment. In my defense, public land whitetail hunting is full of lessons that smack you in the head like a bucket of wet concrete and make you question your own intelligence.
I knew Tank spent most of his time on neighboring private land, where there was textbook bedding cover and no shortage of farm ponds to sip from. But a huge percentage of public land across the country consists of riparian corridors and floodplains—and that spot was no different. A low area along a body of water with a closed canopy and an open, breezy understory. All of which adds up to sweet relief for an overheated buck.
For years, I focused on the unique food sources available in those bottomland hardwood forests as primary drivers of daytime deer traffic from private to public, like old-growth white oaks, persimmons, and all kinds of juicy forbs that upland private parcels rarely offer. It took that missed connection with Tank for me to realize the leverage those areas also held as thermal refugia during fall and winter heat waves.
I filed that lesson away for the next temperature surge and quickly realized there was another advantage to braving warm weather on public land. One that followed the thought process of the average weekend warrior.
Snowbird MentalityBecause the South is second only to New England in terms of human population density, a lot of public land in the region is inherently tight to development. Knowing how to play off private land pressures is a huge advantage for a Southern public land hunter.
The season prior to my fumble with Tank, I noticed that I generally saw more deer activity on weekends compared to weekdays, and I anecdotally attributed that to people working on neighboring private lands where most whitetails in the area were bedding. More than once, I heard a chainsaw or lawnmower fire up and had deer show up minutes later. Once I started deliberately hunting heat waves, I realized a similar pattern was also working in my favor.
Consider the temperatures most folks set their thermostats to. Usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 72 degrees, because that’s what human biology says is most comfortable for rest and relaxation. Coincidentally, that was a common temperature range for post-October warm fronts in central North Carolina. And the non-hunting residents, sick of being cooped up in cold weather, responded accordingly.
Weekday or weekend, if the mercury was too high by my standards as a whitetail hunter, I could bet that the masses would be out enjoying the sunshine and incidentally pushing deer my way. I could also bet that I’d pretty much have the woods to myself, because most of my competition was waiting on the next frost.
Cold Front or Bust?The venn diagram of deer hunters and people who are obsessed with cold fronts is probably close to a perfect circle. I’m not saying anyone is wrong for feeling that way, because cold fronts can be incredible if you hunt them the right way. The problem is, that’s among the most common knowledge in the whitetail world. Anyone with an ounce of skin in the game is likely to hit the woods when the temperature drops.
I consider myself a pretty gracious public land hunter. I’m happy to share the land with other sportsmen and women because I want this lifestyle to persist despite the modern world constantly pushing away from it. But I also don’t love running into other hunters while I’m trying to fill a tag.
It’s nothing personal; I just prefer the feeling of solitude and whitetails that aren’t on edge from overwhelming hunting pressure. Hunting in warm weather might not feel great, but it’s a surefire way to separate yourself from the cold-front crowds. And you’ll probably find that it’s worth the extra sweat on your brow.
If finding a deer in the big woods is like finding a needle in a haystack, finding a mature buck is like looking for that needle in an entire hay field. Unlike ag country, the big woods might only boast two bucks per square mile in some areas. Finding big bucks in such places requires a ton of legwork in and out of season. And that starts with summer scouting. It’s a low pressure/high reward activity that can pay off once deer season rolls around. Here’s where you can start.
Start with Edges One of the hardest things about hunting in the big woods is well, they’re big. When you look at a chunk of territory from the road or on a mapping app, it can be hard to know where to start. Edges are a great place.
During the early summer, leaves on hardwood trees are either just starting to bud or green up. That new growth makes it easy to spot transitions to darker evergreens scattered throughout the woods.
Edges are incredibly important in low-deer-density areas like the big woods, as they provide both cover and feed. During the fall, bucks will also use these edges as travel corridors so that they can stay under cover while feeding and/or looking for does.
Pay especially close attention to these timber edges that run through a low saddle or other funnels. You can almost guarantee to find buck sign there.
Historical SignOnce you locate several edges, look for food sources. Look for mast-producing trees, like oak or beech or even wild apple trees. Pay attention to woody browse and shrubs, like young maple and dogwood trees that are only a few feet off the ground, or shrubs like witch hazel and greenbrier and patches of ferns and moss, which deer will utilize once the mast is gone.
During the fall, big woods deer live on a food-to-bed travel pattern. Look for obvious travel routes and deer trails between these food sources and thick cover and start combing around for buck sign.
Though they won’t be as obvious as they are in the fall, both rubs and scrapes from the previous year are still valuable, especially signpost rubs that bucks hit every year. This old sign can give you a great idea of what type of bucks are in the area and how they like to travel. If you find a lot of old scrapes and rubs along rivers and creeks or at high-altitude spots along the peaks of a ridgeline, those bucks will probably utilize those same types of areas again.
Don’t Overlook TracksFinding deer tracks during the early summer can quickly tell you if there’s a big buck in the area. You can also tell how many different big bucks are around if you know how to identify their tracks. Though there are some exceptions, heavier (more mature) bucks tend to leave dew claw marks in the dirt. You can also look for longer, splayed tracks and investigate them further. Take a photo just in case you come across a similar track in that general area for comparison or to hone in your setup.
Like fingerprints, a buck’s tracks can be distinctive. Some are short, long, or have distinct chips or irregularities in the hoof that give those bucks away. It can take a bit of practice, but once you learn how to pick out all these little anomalies, you’ll be able to spot that particular buck’s track in a pile of others.
Don’t just stop there. Since bucks typically bachelor up during the summer, you should be able to spot others and get a sense of how many bucks are using that area.
Prepare NowIt’s never too early to get a jump on deer season. The more intel you gather now, the more options you’ll have when October 1 rolls around, and that’s never a bad thing in the big woods.
This time of year might not seem relevant for deer hunting, but if you want to find consistent success like some of the best big buck hunters, you might want to change your offseason approach.
But don’t just take it from me. I spoke with MeatEater’s Mark Kenyon, who knows a thing or two about chasing mature bucks. Mark has also interviewed the best deer hunters across the country, so he’s a bit of an encyclopedia when it comes to whitetail knowledge. Whether you hunt private or public lands, here are a few things he and the other experts do in the offseason to help them prepare for deer season.
Prepping Food PlotsDeer season feels like a long way from May, but the work you do now can directly affect your success in the fall. You don’t need to have everything ready at this point in the year, but it can help you get ahead of the curve. This is especially true if you have the access or ability to plant food plots.
“This time of year is for making your life easier,” Mark said. “Think weeding, spraying, or prepping a plot that maybe you want to plant later in the summer. Go ahead and mow it so you’re not starting from ground zero in August.”
It might not seem like a ton of work, but the more you do now, the less you’ll have to accomplish when the dead of summer hits.
Adjust Your Trail CamerasLike your stand setups during season, now is a good time to reevaluate your trail cameras. Whether you need to replace batteries or move them to other areas as seasonal habitat change occurs, look for ways to maximize your trail camera strategy. If you’re already out chasing longbeards, this can be a good time to pull double duty.
“Turkey season is usually the time I like to go pull the rest of my cameras,” Mark said. “I’ll pull them down, clean them, change the batteries, etc. to make sure they’re ready to go in July when I redeploy them for summer scouting.”
A lot of hunters take the set-it-and-forget-it approach to trail cameras. This might work in certain spots, but you’ll likely need to adjust them at some point throughout the year.
Bring A FriendYou don’t have to wait until hunting season to invite your friends or family along for the ride. Besides, two sets of hands are better than one when you’re trying to knock out offseason projects or just “make it more fun,” according to Mark.
“Involving other people is a great way to build community in this area, and it makes it more likely that you’ll actually go do the work. So, just getting your kids outdoors or inviting your dad, grandpa, buddy, or wife to join you for these projects…it just becomes more enjoyable.”
On that same note, don’t hesitate to help someone else. Even if you don’t have permission to hunt somewhere, helping a buddy on their property can be a great way to learn or think about your own hunting spots. You might even get an invite for offering to help. I scored an awesome hunting spot by helping a friend hang trail cameras. What started as a simple scouting trip with a buddy turned into a reliable hunting spot not far from my house.
Develop A Shooting RoutineShooting year round is a great habit to develop. But, even if you took a break through winter and turkey season, you still have plenty of time to practice before bow season.
“Early summer is great for getting and building good reps,” Mark said. “Now is the time to regain the form and make it fun. Build an archery league with your buddies or start a habit with your kids.”
Mark noted that starting your archery routine now can help you focus on more hunting-related shots when late summer arrives. Building a routine now and getting good reps means you can focus on taking elevated shots from the stand or saddle or even extending your range in August/September. Even if you only shoot a few arrows every day, those reps add up.
Wind Map Your Hunting SpotsThere’s always a list of things I want to accomplish in-season that also run the risk of spooking deer. Wind mapping is one of those activities.
“Building out a wind map is something people talk about but rarely do,” Mark said, “but it’s a great thing to do in the offseason. Every time you put up a stand, take some milk weed with you and see what it does.”
You don’t have to make a special trip to wind map a property, but if you’re already trimming shooting lanes, pulling cameras, etc., you might as well wind map while you’re there. Even if it seems insignificant, it’s one of those little details that adds up and can help you kill a mature buck, Mark said.
Final ThoughtsWhile there are plenty of chores to prepare for deer season, there’s a reason this time of year is called the offseason. Hunters, even one as dialed as Mark, need this time to recharge or just do something else so they don’t burn out.
“It’s okay to take a break from this stuff,” he said. “Whether you’re fishing or turkey hunting, just make sure you do other stuff that you enjoy, too.”
A few Novembers ago, I set out for a hang-and-hunt on my favorite piece of public land in North Carolina. After over an hour of wandering, I stumbled across a hot white oak that was surrounded by fresh deer sign. Shortly after I set up, a young buck limped up to the acorns and stood perfectly for a shot.
I couldn’t have been more excited as I walked up to that scrappy six-point. But reality started tugging on my sleeve as I field dressed him. My wandering led me nearly two miles from my truck, and I was totally unprepared to pack a deer out that far. I looked up at the lights from a small rural community nearby—so close I could hear car doors slamming—and decided to give it a shot.
One phone call later, I had permission from the nearest homeowner to drag my buck out through his backyard. The following season—after requesting to drag out another deer—he gave me standing permission to access public land through his property. Soon after, he offered me permission to archery hunt on his property. It’s been five years since then, and I live more than 1000 miles from that spot now, but my dad still enjoys open access to that property every season.
Private land permission can be a game changer for any hunter, but it’s hard to get and can be easy to lose. With that in mind, here are a few things to consider before you try door knocking this spring.
The ProposalPermission is a tricky proposition. In my time as a hunter, trapper, and wildlife research technician, I’ve interacted with hundreds of landowners to negotiate access. I can say with certainty that most landowners would rather not allow a stranger to set foot on their property at all, let alone to engage in a potentially dangerous activity where the goal is to harvest a desirable resource.
Some are definite no’s. Many teeter somewhere in the middle, and your approach can sway them in your favor.
On initial contact with a landowner, I always ask if it’s a good time and offer to call or stop by later if not. I want to make it abundantly clear from the start that I respect their time. Next, I explain what they really want to know: who I am and why I landed on their porch or phone line.
In my experience, landowners like to see that you’re putting in the effort to be successful and aren’t just trolling for easy pickings. Before popping the question for hunting or trapping permission, I always mention that I’ve been making good use of public land in the area but would love to hunt new ground or have a more accessible option when I’m crunched for time.
I’ve faced plenty of denials. Most of them were due to existing leases or company policies prohibiting hunting. But I’ve also scored access to some incredible land, and I’ve never had a door slammed in my face. The key is to speak as if you’re asking a favor from someone who owes you nothing, because that’s exactly what you’re doing.
Still, the game isn’t over when you get a “yes.” If you want to hold on to that access, you have to prove to the landowner that you’re not a liability. That’s a long-term commitment.
Play for KeepsYour relationship with a landowner is an invaluable thing, but it can be incredibly fragile. One rule broken, one whiff of a bad attitude, and you might land permanently on their shit list. Remember, the landowner is taking a risk and doing you an enormous favor in letting you hunt. Show your appreciation by respecting their boundaries and behaving responsibly.
I also always offer venison or a helping hand with grunt work on any permitted property. In the case of the landowner who let me drag my buck out through his property, he declined my offer of venison but gladly accepted a case of his favorite beer. My dad carries on that tradition, dropping by the house with a case of beer at the start of each season and a few times during.
MeatEater's own Tony Peterson explained to me how he's maintained access to a farm in southeast Minnesota for over 30 years.
"I was in eighth grade when a fellow classmate mentioned I could hunt their family place, but he cautioned me against pissing his dad off," he said. "I knew of his dad from football games and figured the best way to go about things was to try to stay off of his radar as much as possible and follow the rules."
While that might seem like common sense, it’s important to consider what “following the rules” looks like for individual landowners.
"Over the years, I've watched dozens of hunters get booted from that property for parking in field drives, leaving gates open, calling the landowner during spring planting or fall harvest, and just generally inconveniencing the landowner. Hunters forget that farmers are running a business, and it's best to leave them to it," Tony said.
Tony said that farm “changed (him) forever,” and he’s maintained that relationship even now.
"I'm super grateful to not only get to grow up and learn there, but also to be able to now take my daughters there. I call him up every year in March to ask permission, and every year he says yes. It's honestly just a gift."
Tony’s takes a long-term approach, and it’s been fundamental to maintaining access. You have to follow the rules a landowner sets for you, no matter how unreasonable or arbitrary you might think they are. Ignoring them is the fastest way to lose permission and gain a bad reputation in the neighborhood.
Read Between the LinesLandowners might not communicate all the rules directly, and that’s dangerous territory. They might not outright want to tell you they’re uncomfortable with you hunting in the woodlot behind the house or that they want you to stay out during the youth deer season when their grandkids will be out.
But often, if you’re a good listener, you can pick up on cues. The key is to pay attention and always err on the side of caution. This is the best way to prove your worth to the landowner, which can expand your access and opportunities over the years. Basically, if you show your appreciation and don’t become an inconvenience, the glide path to multiple seasons is easy enough to follow.
This is a weird time of year to be thinking about deer.
It’s turkey season, the fishing is getting really good across the country, and we are at about the exact midpoint between the deer season’s end and its beginning. The default setting right now, with a lot of us, is that there is more than enough time. Which is true, until it isn’t.
There are some ways in which a lot of us sabotage our upcoming season that we don’t even consider until it’s too late. That’s a shame, because a lot of the little things you could do now will pay dividends come fall. The first is actually really simple, and fun.
Lazy Practice SessionsDue to the fact that I really like to arrow strutting longbeards, I’ve been shooting my bow quite a bit lately. My goal, of course, is to send an expandable through the boiler rooms of as many toms as I can, while trying to avoid non-lethal hits that are so common in turkey bowhunting. My goal once the turkey season is wrapped up, is to keep shooting.
I have some buddies who just love to shoot, and it shows every fall. They are straight assassins when it counts (most of the time). They know what we all know, which is that we should practice year round (or at least more), but how many of us do?
One of the best ways you can ensure you don’t take a perfectly good deer season and turn it into a nightmare is to spend more time at the range. This obviously goes for bowhunters, but also firearm hunters, too. Practice doesn’t make perfect when it comes to deer hunting, but it’ll get you a hell of a lot closer than folks who wait until three days before the opener to fling some arrows or punch paper for a few rounds.
Setup Burnout I’m convinced that one of the biggest hurdles most whitetail hunters never clear is the option’s game with their setups. We all know the mobile hunting advantages, but that is so biased in the public land bowhunters’ direction that it really doesn’t enter the conversation for a lot of folks. Whether you own ground, have a lease, or your grandma’s farm is still in the family, having more options is never a bad thing.
This is a hedge against human nature, especially given the current trend in hunting that involves making one spot a whitetail mecca and then setting up a box blind to hunt from season opener to season close, during every condition Mother Nature offers. When we have a good setup, we can’t help but hunt it.
That’s great, until you want to kill a mature buck. The higher the predator presence in one location, the lower the odds of a good one going there in daylight. It’s really that simple. Giving yourself a few more options for blinds and stands, even when you really just want to go doomscroll in a little house on stilts, is a good idea.
Think about wind direction, seasonal timing, and the likelihood of how and when you might burn out some of your go-to setups. Then, give yourself some ambush options to let the pressure of those locations when you really want to hunt but the conditions aren’t ideal for your mainstay haunts.
Much of this can be accomplished now, while there are still months left before the season.
Camera TrapsTo a lot of folks, this would be the most pointless time of year to put some trail cameras out. The bucks’ heads are bare, the deer are not necessarily living where they’ll be this fall, and there’s just so much time to gather better intel later.
Over the last several years, I’ve started to believe differently about all of that. Where I can, I often run cameras year round. Even though the info I gather now isn’t going to be as beneficial as the info I can gather in October, it’s not without some value.
What I’ve found about monitoring spring and summer bucks is that they mostly do predictable stuff, but it’s when they don’t, that I find myself learning something. Naturally, they’ll hit the most obvious food sources and all of that, but what I like to try to figure out is where else they might travel.
A mature buck has a home range of around a square mile, which means very little to most of us. Suffice it to say, he knows his home and core range very well, and throughout the spring and summer he’ll walk trails, visit water, and do his thing wherever it is beneficial. While you might only get 10 deer pictures a week on a trail in the woods for the next few months, you might get five that really tell you something.
We think about mature bucks generally in the context of September to December or January, but they live out there all year. Understanding where they like to travel all year, and what conditions might get them to walk through a pinch point in the spring, can play into your fall hunting strategy.
With today’s cell cameras and relatively cheap plans, you can do a lot of scouting and learning without really putting much effort in. And you should, if you can, because there’s really no downside to it.
For the first time ever, a captive-raised deer has been released into the wild whitetail population to slow the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).
The historic move is part of a program instituted by the Oklahoma state legislature in 2024. The Chronic Wasting Disease Genetic Improvement Program is intended to bolster wild deer genetics by releasing captive deer that have a resistance—though not an immunity—to the always-fatal disease.
But opponents say that meaningfully improving wild herd genetics would require releasing hundreds of thousands of deer. What’s more, those releases could have the opposite effect: captive deer are not tested for CWD prior to release and may end up spreading the disease to new areas or introducing novel strains.
“That's not how you mitigate the disease,” said Catherine Appling-Pooler, the director of policy for the National Deer Association. “People have grabbed onto this research because it offers hope against a disease that is 100 percent fatal. But hope should not get in the way of science. We need to make sure this can be repeated, that it’s peer reviewed, and that it’s accepted by more than just one scientist.”
The concept of fighting CWD by improving the genetics in the wild herd has been pioneered by a Texas biologist named Dr. Chris Seabury. However, while farmers did something similar to eliminate scrapie in sheep herds, the technique has never been proven effective—or even tested—in wild populations.
State veterinarian Dr. Rod Hall confirmed in an email to MeatEater that a captive-raised deer was released in Wagoner County, Oklahoma. The animal met the genetic requirements of the state’s new genetic improvement program but was not tested for CWD. Appling-Pooler tells MeatEater as many as five more deer could be released on low-fence properties in Oklahoma before the April 15, 2026, deadline.
The release of this deer was not approved by wildlife professionals at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC). Instead, as per the language in the 2024 bill, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry (ODAFF) okayed the release according to their one-page list of requirements.
As MeatEater reported at the time, wildlife officials and hunting groups were shocked when the Genetic Improvement Program sailed through the Sooner State legislature. But not only did the bill pass on a nearly unanimous basis, it also left the ODWC with little input on whether and how these captive deer should be released into the wild. The bill said the wildlife agency “may” charge a one-time permit fee, but it gave the ODAFF the authority to promulgate rules for the program. It was unclear whether the ODWC also had the ability to impose permit requirements, and the agency never went through the rulemaking process.
Frustrated by this perceived lack of action, Oklahoma Representative Nick Archer introduced House Bill 3270 during this legislative session. This bill entirely removes the ODWC from the decision-making process and grants permitting authority solely to the Department of Agriculture (ODAFF).
At the same time, the ODAFF is moving forward with deer releases.
“It's completely removing wildlife professionals from the program and from the conversation and from, most importantly, the decision making. And that's what NDA and others oppose. Wildlife professionals should be involved in decisions that directly impact wildlife in the state,” Appling-Pooler said. “It's not just about CWD. It's an overreach by the legislature on the department's authority to do their job.”
The Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission has not historically endorsed or opposed specific pieces of legislation, but they have come out against HB 3270.
“HB 3270 would authorize a practice that has never been implemented in Oklahoma and has not been adopted by any state wildlife agency as a management tool,” the commission wrote in a position statement. “The Commission finds that such action warrants comprehensive scientific review and careful consideration of all potential unintended consequences before any implementation.”
One of those unintended consequences is the potential exclusion of all Oklahoma deer from the Boone & Crockett and Pope & Young record books. These organizations have always excluded genetically manipulated animals from their records, and releasing captive deer into Oklahoma’s wild herd might disqualify the entire herd.
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Commission held a meeting April 6, to which they invited several wildlife biologists to speak to this issue. (It’s worth checking out in its entirety here). One of them, Dr. Jennifer Malmberg of the National Wildlife Research Center, laid out a model showing how many deer would need to be released in order to improve the genetics of the wild herd.
Releasing a number of deer equal to 1% of the wild population would have almost no effect on the wild herd. There are an estimated 750,000 deer in Oklahoma, which means even if 7,500 CWD-resistant deer were released every year for 10 years, it would have a negligible effect on wild deer. Releasing 75,000 deer each year over 10 years would have a greater effect, but it still wouldn’t make the entire herd resistant (which, again, doesn’t make them immune).
What’s more, this model assumes a best-case scenario. It assumes captive deer will breed and survive at the same rate as wild deer (which is unlikely) and that there will be no landscape fragmentation that will affect gene flow (roads, cities, etc.).
While releasing a realistic number of captive deer would create very little benefit, it could result in significant cost. Dr. Malmberg noted it could spread CWD into new areas of the state, but it would also dramatically alter the behavior of deer in the Sooner State.
“It can alter deer density and resource selection. It’s very likely that deer that are released from captivity into the wild will use human resources, and we know that that results in more CWD,” she told the commission.
The Oklahoma State House voted to remove the ODWC from the whitetail release program on a 68-21 vote. This might seem one-sided, but it represents a significant uptick in opposition from 2024, when only three legislators voted against the program. HB 3270 now heads to the Senate, where it sits before the Agriculture and Wildlife Committee.
Appling-Pooler says despite the large margin of “Yes” votes in the House, the Senate might present more difficulties for this legislation.
“I am more optimistic than I usually am on this issue,” she said. “I have heard more opposition from legislators. They've been hearing from their constituents, and they are listening to their constituents, which is always really appreciated. I'm encouraged by the constituent engagement we've had.”
If you’d like to be one of those constituents—which include residents of neighboring states who might have an opinion on pen-raised deer mingling with wild animals—you can contact state legislators here.
Spring means gobbling turkeys, pleasant temps, and more daylight. It’s also the start of a long offseason of whitetail scouting that spans the summer months and into fall openers. Unfortunately, it’s also the time that insects, spiders, snakes, and a host of other critters resurface.
Depending on what part of the country you live in, these critters might not pose much of a threat to you. If you live in states that serve sweet tea or promote dry, arid temps, you probably think about them a lot. While the odds of getting bit by a snake remain low, and even lower for death-related bites, I’m willing to bet most hunters would still rather exercise a bit of caution when it comes to creepy crawlies. Even if you aren’t worried about snake bites, no one wants to give up red meat because they forgot their tick repellent.
For many hunters out West or down South, there’s a long list of critters that bite and sting. A lot of them can be venomous, poisonous, or carry diseases. Here are a few.
- Rattlesnakes
- Spiders
- Fire ants
- Scorpions
- Ticks
- Mosquitos
- Alligators
- Wasps
- Yellowjackets
You don’t need to develop a phobia, or even expect to see these every time you hunt, but a little awareness and a few helpful pieces of gear can save you a headache—or a trip to the ER.
Invest in Snake BootsI prefer to hunt in hiking boots, but the vast bottomland habitat and swamps of the South don’t make that feasible. Nor do the cottonmouths, eastern diamondbacks, or copperheads that call it home. I’m fascinated by snakes, and I love seeing them in the wild, but I’m not interested in paying for antivenom. Snakes are mostly docile. You have to agitate them (or mistakenly sit on them) for them to strike at you. But if you’re frequenting areas where they live, consider investing in a pair of snake boots.
The Lacrosse Alpha Agility Snake Boots make a great option. They’re uninsulated, and I don’t mind covering several miles in a day during turkey season because they’re relatively lightweight for rubber boots. The uppers are also plenty stiff enough even if a snake were to strike. So far, I’ve logged dozens of miles in a single pair over the past four years, and they’re still going strong.
If you hunt in dry, arid parts of the country, a pair of gaiters can serve the same purpose as snake boots without the added weight or sweat.
PermethrinAlong with transmitting diseases like Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, and a host of others, ticks (lone star tick in particular) can even transmit alpha-gal syndrome, which causes an allergic reaction to red meat in those affected. Luckily, there are easy, cost-effective ways to combat these pesky parasites.
You can treat your clothes with permethrin prior to a hunt or scouting trip to repel ticks and mosquitos. I’ve used Sawyer permethrin in the past. You spray it on your clothes the night before, and it supposedly lasts six weeks before you need to reapply. My hunting clothes usually go through several washes within a few weeks, so I end up reapplying sooner anyway. For around $15, it’s a budget-friendly way to make sure you don’t leave the woods with any unwanted guests.
Clothes with Insect RepellentIf you’re in the market for new hunting clothes anyway, consider gear with built-in insect repellent. First Lite’s Yuma synthetic hoody incorporates Burlington No Fly Zone to repel mosquitos and ticks. This means you’re covered if you happen to forget your Thermacell or spray back at the truck.
Clothes with built-in insect repellent are typically rated for so many washes. This means after a certain amount of washes or time (whichever comes first) the repellent wears out. So, you will have to invest in spray or treat the clothing again at some point.
Other PrecautionsWhether you’re visiting a buggy destination for hunting or scouting, here are a few things to keep in mind when the temps rise.
- Wear longer socks
- Use rubber or snake boots in warm, wet climates
- Treat your clothes with insect repellent
- Check your surroundings before sitting or kneeling
- Snakes are mostly docile…unless you antagonize them
- Look before you cross/jump a creek
- Check for ticks after scouting or hunting when it’s warm
- Make sure you don’t stand in an ant bed in the dark
- If you’re moving treestands in the summer, bring wasp spray
- Carry an EpiPen if you’re allergic to bees/wasps
You can’t overlook Wisconsin’s No. 1 ranking when scrolling through the Boone and Crockett Club’s 17,465 record-book entries for white-tailed deer in the Lower 48.
According to B&C’s “Big Game Records Live” online listings, hunters have entered 2,132 Wisconsin bucks (typicals and nontypicals combined) in “the book” since its origins in 1888. That’s 12% of all B&C whitetails for the Lower 48. Wisconsin also produced the legendary “Jordan Buck,” the No. 2 typical B&C whitetail killed in 1914 by Jim Jordan with a .25-20 Winchester in Burnett County.
Four Wisconsin counties rank among the nation’s top 12 counties. Buffalo County is No. 1 with 165 entries; followed by Vernon County, No. 8 with 65; and Richland and Trempealeau, tied for No. 9 through No. 12 with Illinois’ Fulton County and Iowa’s Warren County, with 63.
Wisconsin built much of its B&C dominance recently. From 1999 through 2024, Wisconsin entered 1,537 (72%) of its B&C bucks, which includes 1,105 typicals and 432 nontypicals. That’s 13% of 11,465 B&C whitetails entered from the Lower 48 those years.
Likewise, those top four Wisconsin counties built 78% of their B&C rankings from 1999 to 2024. They also share the same neighborhood in southwestern Wisconsin. The Mississippi River sets the western edges of Buffalo, Trempealeau, and Vernon counties. Just to the southeast, the Wisconsin River forms Richland County’s southern border. If you were a crow and flew from northwestern Buffalo County to the southeastern corner of Richland County, you’d fly 135 miles with one of those four counties beneath your wings for all but 28 miles. And if you hiked that route in summer, you’d seldom leave the shade of oak-dominated woodlands and brushy edges bordering fertile valleys, hillside fields, and stream-fed wetlands.
The Driftless AreaThese deer-rich counties help anchor Wisconsin’s portion of the “Driftless Area,” 24,000 square miles of Midwestern magnificence that also include southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois. This region earned its name from the Laurentide Ice Sheet that bypassed it during the most recent glacial period—the Wisconsin glaciation—15,000 years ago. That great ice sheet never leveled southwestern Wisconsin’s steep hillsides and limestone ridges, nor plowed its dark loess soils and ancient lake bottoms.
The Driftless Area remains lightly developed by today’s standards, and covers all or part of 21 Wisconsin counties. That means 31% of Wisconsin geography produced 780 of the state’s 1,537 (50.7%) B&C bucks for 1999-2024. In fact, the Driftless Area contains nine of Wisconsin’s top 10 B&C counties for 1999-2024 and 16 of its top 21 (76%). The top 10’s only outlier — Polk County, No. 6 with 49 B&C entries — is just 20 miles north of the region.
Driftless Area Dominates in CWDUnfortunately, the Driftless Area’s many traits that benefit deer — undeveloped landscapes, nutrient-rich soils, abundant croplands, and lengthy river corridors — also helped spread and intensify Wisconsin’s worst outbreaks of chronic wasting disease in the past 25 years. This always-fatal disease kills its victims within 18 to 24 months of contraction. As each case worsens, victims grow increasingly vulnerable to hunting, predation, road-kills, and illnesses like pneumonia.
Wisconsin found its first three CWD cases in 2001 in Dane County on the Driftless Area’s southeastern corner. Those were also the first CWD cases east of the Mississippi River, triggering massive statewide testing (40,147 samples) in 2002. Those tests found 205 more cases, mostly in Dane, 94, and neighboring Iowa County, 107. Next-door Sauk County had two cases, and Richland and Walworth counties found one each. Only Walworth is outside the Driftless Area.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has since identified nearly 16,200 more CWD cases in wild deer, including at least one case in 51 (71%) of the state’s 72 counties. Most cases came from hunter-volunteered samples, even though Wisconsin hasn’t mandated CWD testing since 2012. A 2019 DNR survey found 70% of hunters have never submitted a deer for testing. And only 5.5% of successful hunters submitted deer for testing the past eight years. DNR data also show only 3.4% (352,635) of the 10.44 million Wisconsin deer registered by hunters since 1999 were tested.
The Driftless Area has produced 15,613 (95%) of Wisconsin’s 16,397 CWD cases. During 2025, the region’s 1,820 CWD cases accounted for 89.4% of Wisconsin’s record-setting 2,036 cases. That nearly doubled the 1,064 cases documented only seven years earlier with similar sampling efforts: 17,216 tests in 2018 and 18,262 in 2025.
Further, Wisconsin’s top 12 CWD counties are all in the Driftless Area, and three other Driftless counties make the top 20 CWD list. Iowa County leads with 4,720 cases, followed by Richland, 2,904; Sauk, 2,513; and Dane, 2,100. Only two Driftless counties — Pepin and St. Croix — haven’t detected CWD, while La Crosse County found its first case in 2025.
However, hunters in Driftless Area counties also test deer at higher rates than hunters elsewhere, mainly for food-safety reasons. But more tests don’t guarantee more CWD cases. Jefferson County, just east of the Driftless Area, found its first case in 2005, and has since identified 69 CWD deer from 8,476 (0.8%) tests. Meanwhile, Vernon County (Driftless Area) has found nearly 5 times as many cases (334) with 219 fewer tests (8,257), and didn’t find its first case until 2017, 12 years after Jefferson County’s first.
Aggressive-Passive ManagementWisconsin has taken contradictory approaches to CWD. From 2002 through 2010, the DNR aggressively tried to reduce deer herds across Dane, Iowa, Sauk, Richland and other nearby counties. Those efforts included months-long either-sex gun seasons and earn-a-buck regulation, i.e., register an antlerless deer before shooting an antlered buck.
Those tactics reduced deer herds in Dane, Iowa, Sauk, and Richland counties to an estimated average of 16,740 by late 2011, which kept CWD rates at 4.6% for Dane, 8.6% for Iowa, 3.2% for Sauk, and 1.5% for Richland. But earlier in 2011, state lawmakers outlawed earn-a-buck and forbade gun-hunting before late November’s nine-day firearms season. By 2014, acting on the advice of Gov. Scott Walker’s “deer trustee” — Dr. James Kroll of Texas — “passive CWD management” became state policy).
Deer populations and CWD boomed in response. By 2020, deer numbers increased 92% in those four counties, peaking on average at an estimated 32,139 deer per county. Similarly, CWD rates hit 17% in Dane, 29% in Iowa, 26% in Sauk and 19.6% in Richland.
By 2024, CWD rates flattened to 17% in Dane and 25% in Iowa, but soared to 33% in Sauk and Richland. At those high levels, CWD helped cut deer populations in Dane, Iowa, Sauk and Richland by 13% to 28,035, on average.
Quirky B&C EntriesSo how does Wisconsin’s Driftless Area keep producing record-book bucks despite record-setting CWD cases? For starters, CWD didn’t reach most of Wisconsin’s 21 Driftless Area counties until 15 or more years after its discovery in 2001 and 2002.
Plus, even where prevalent, CWD and deer — and hunters — aren’t evenly distributed. Isolated valleys, woodlots and other pockets of cover can create disease hotspots and deer safe havens. On Dec. 10, 2025, for example, a Dane County hunter, Steven Loomans of Madison, shot a 12-point buck he green-scored at 191-7/8 inches as a typical and 206-6/8 inches as a nontypical 18-pointer.
Further, even in Wisconsin and even without CWD, Booner whitetails are rare. Bucks must reach ages 4½ to 6½ to reach physical maturity and fully express their genetic antler potential. Wisconsin bucks typically face heavy hunting pressure. In 2011, when hunters killed 150,839 bucks statewide, most (54%) were yearlings (18 months old). Still, when a state-record 159 bucks from 2011 entered B&C’s record book the next year (2012), it represented only 0.10% of Wisconsin’s buck kill. (Bucks usually enter B&C’s book the year after they’re killed.)
They’re even rare in Buffalo County. During its biggest B&C years, its 10 B&C entries in 2000 represented 0.33% of its 3,037 buck kill in 1999. And Buffalo County’s 13 B&C bucks in 2010 were 0.42% of its 3,084 buck kill in 2009.
B&C entries also vary annually without obvious changes in predation, hunting pressure, food quality, or winter severity. Even though Buffalo County tallied 109 B&C entries for 1999-2024, it had only one entry in 1999; two entries in 2002, 2018, 2019, and 2020; and zero entries in 2013, 2017, 2023, and 2024.
Therefore, at least for now, you’ll find no distinct trends or CWD-driven warnings when expanding the view to analyze 642 B&C entries for 1999-2024 from 14 productive Driftless Area counties in Wisconsin: Pierce, Pepin, Dunn, Buffalo, Trempealeau, La Crosse, Vernon, Crawford, and Grant, which are on or near the Mississippi River; and Columbia, Dane, Iowa, Sauk, and Richland in CWD’s core area north and west of Madison.
Those 14 counties’ combined B&C entries ping-ponged annually during 1999-2024 — ranging as low as 11 and as high as 60 — even as CWD spread farther across landscapes and more densely within infected herds. Yes, B&C entries for that group fell 11% from 340 in 1999-2011, when CWD was relatively new, to 302 in 2012-2024 entries, when CWD was accelerating. And yes, those counties’ annual B&C totals never fell below 13 (2010) for the 1999-2011 entries, but fell to 12 (2019) and 11 (2024) for the 2012-2024 entries.
Those same 14 counties, however, enrolled 105 B&C bucks the last five years (2020-2024), a 15% increase from 91 the first five years (1999-2003), even as gun-hunter numbers statewide fell 14% from 644,460 in 2012 to 553,652 in 2024.
The Human FactorBottom line: B&C entries are neither consistent nor predictable. And hunters help make it so. When hunters kill a potential Booner, it’s on them to find a certified scorer to measure the rack, and pay the club its $40 entry fee. Many hunters do neither. Some want to keep things secret. Others care little about antler scores and records.
Shane Indrebo, co-owner of the North American Shed Hunters Club since 2019, knows something about all that. He lives in Buffalo County and grew up helping his parents Tom and Lori operate Bluff Country Outfitters since 1993 from their farm near Cream. Since 2006, Indrebo has also taken studio-quality photos for hunters and their bucks. Each session takes roughly an hour, and one to two hours to edit and organize the images. At $300 per session, Indrebo takes 25 to 30 big-buck portraits during slow years and 50 in good years. That’s over 500 hunters/bucks the past 20 years.
Indrebo isn’t surprised when hunters don’t enter lower-end Booners in the book. To qualify for B&C’s all-time records, a whitetail’s rack must net-score 170 inches as a “typical” or 195 inches as a “nontypical.” Those minimums have been B&C standards since at least 1968.
“A large majority of big bucks never go into the record books, but I also think most elite bucks end up in the books,” Indrebo told MeatEater.
Indrebo said “elite” bucks score in the high 180s to low 190s as typicals, and 220s to 230s as nontypicals.
“Some bucks get labeled ‘200’ when they’re shot, but by the time they dry 60 days and get measured, a 189 nontypical won’t get entered,” he said. “Some guys will say, ‘I don’t want my name in no book.’ But when it’s a 189 typical, they start hearing some crap. When their buddies show interest, they realize it’s special. They feel peer pressure to go to a deer show and get it scored.”
Indrebo thinks Buffalo County’s B&C dominance isn’t just habitat, herd size, and limestone bluffs. “You see similar habitats throughout the Driftless Area,” he said. “Some of the biggest racks and sheds we’ve scored come from Richland County (80 miles to the southeast). But I’m not surprised there’s fewer entries across the (Mississippi) River in Minnesota. A lot of their record-book entries are from before 2000. Things are different there; maybe because their gun season opens during the rut in early November, two weeks before our (gun) season.”
A Tradition of B&CDan Storm, the Wisconsin DNR’s deer-research scientist, said B&C entries are as much about people as deer. “There’s more of a tradition for entering deer in some areas,” Storm told MeatEater. “Buffalo County has twice as many entries as Trempealeau County (109 vs. 52 for 1999-2024), but there’s no way Buffalo County produces twice as many bucks worthy of entry. Those counties border each other, and they’re nearly identical in size and habitat.” (Buffalo County covers 709 square miles, of which 527 (74%) square miles is deer range. Trempealeau County covers 742 square miles, and 514 (69%) is deer range.)
In contrast, two Minnesota counties across the Mississippi River registered just over half as many Booners for 1999-2024 as Trempealeau County’s 52. Winona County had 29 B&C entries those years and Wabasha 27. South of there, Houston County had 42 entries. Iowa’s northeastern counties along the Mississippi River differed little. Allamakee County had 39 entries for 1999-2024, followed by Dubuque, 36; and Clayton, 34. Across the river in northwestern Illinois, Jo Daviess County had 35 entries.
All eight of those Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois counties are in the Driftless Area, as are Wisconsin’s eight river-border counties. But of Wisconsin’s eight counties on the Mississippi River, only Pierce, 41 entries; Pepin, 27; and La Crosse, 23; had fewer B&C entries than Houston Counties’ 42: Buffalo,109; Vernon, 57; Trempealeau, 52; Crawford, 49; and Grant, 42.
A Matter of Pride?MeatEater’s Spencer Neuharth, host of the MeatEater Trivia podcast, links Wisconsin’s B&C dominance more to pride than deer habitats or genetics. “It’s anecdotal, but I think Wisconsin has a prouder group of hunters than anywhere else in the country,” Neuharth said. “Part of that pride is entering their names in the record book. I love that. It's really cool. I’m jealous of it, actually.”
The late Charles Kuralt of CBS-TV News made similar comments about Wisconsin in the early 1980s after touring the state for his “On the Road” reports. Kuralt noted the state’s small-town pride in Hayward, which proclaimed itself the “Musky Capital of the World;” and Fremont, the “White Bass Capital of the World;” Monroe, the “Swiss Cheese Capital of the World;” Eau Claire, the “Horseradish Capital of the World;” and Iola, the “Bowhunting Capital of the World.” Kuralt finally exclaimed, “Wisconsin is the capital of the capitals of the world.”
Make no mistake: Neuharth thinks Wisconsin’s B&C entries are legitimate, whether it’s all-time (2,132 Booners) or 1999-2024 (1,537). Still, he doubts Wisconsin hunters killed 32% more Booner-class bucks in 1999-2024 than did Illinois hunters (1,168 entries) or 157% more than Texas hunters (599 entries).
“My argument gets stronger when you look at Boone and Crockett black bear entries,” Neuharth said. “Wisconsin kills about as many black bears (3,724 in 2025, and 4,432 in 2024) as any state, but it has over twice as many Booner black-bears (959, all-time) as second-place Pennsylvania (467), and nearly four times as many as Alaska (257).
“Buffalo County also has three black bear entries,” Neuharth continued. “That’s the same amount as Minnesota’s Lake of the Woods County and more than Montana’s Flathead County (2). Both of those counties are much bigger, and have better bear habitat than Buffalo County. So, all that feels inflated.”
Too Soon for ClarityThen again, that awareness suggests that if one state could use B&C entries to detect trends in CWD data, it’s Wisconsin. And when it comes to antler size, what’s the alternative? No state wildlife agency maintains systems for scoring antlers and cataloguing big bucks annually, historically or regionally. Nor do states track how many bucks taxidermists handle each year. And even if states tracked taxidermy workloads, how would they account for business fluctuations caused by economic factors, hunting-license sales, hunting and habitat conditions, and perceptions of each taxidermist’s skills or pricing?
If this were all about science, and not wall-worthy antlers, the best method is age-class data. Unfortunately, the Wisconsin DNR hasn’t systematically collected those details since 2015. That’s when it ended mandatory in-person deer registration and switched to mandatory electronic registration. Although the agency could impose temporary in-person check stations to collect data, Wisconsin’s political climate has blocked that option.
Storm, the Wisconsin DNR researcher, thinks CWD is probably reducing big-buck numbers, but he can’t predict or specify how it affects B&C entries. “That’s a different question,” he said.
Wisconsin native Jim Heffelfinger, the wildlife science coordinator for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, thinks it’s still too soon to identify CWD’s impacts on B&C entries, or the age structure of Wisconsin bucks.
“At this point, the numbers you’re showing are erratic,” Heffelfinger told MeatEater after looking at the 1999-2024 B&C data for southwestern Wisconsin. “It’s like the saying about measuring with a micrometer, marking with chalk, and cutting with an ax. Those numbers so far lack the resolution to detect anything caused by CWD. It would be better to get all the age-structure data and analyze that.”
Professor Mike Chamberlain at the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry made similar comments. Chamberlain helped do a 2021-2024 study of CWD’s impacts on Arkansas’ deer herds. The four-year project documented CWD reduced Arkansas’ deer numbers 17% annually, on average; with buck densities declining 23% annually.
“There’s nothing obvious in (Wisconsin’s 1999-2024 B&C data) at this time, but I think it’s too soon,” Chamberlain told MeatEater. “You wonder what those numbers will look like in 10 years, or maybe 20 or 30 years. At some point, it seems logical the numbers would have to drop off, given the high CWD prevalence in some Wisconsin counties.”
A Complicated DiseaseMeanwhile, CWD rates mostly keep rising in Wisconsin, even though it hasn’t spread at the same rate in every direction, nor does it infect herds equally, no matter their numbers or population densities. In general, CWD in Wisconsin spreads faster in areas with clay-based soils, rural corridors, and areas of connected woodlands, abundant edge cover and high percentages of deer range. On the other hand, it spreads slower in sand-based soils, well developed areas, and open agricultural areas with large cultivated fields.
For example, Madison’s metro area with 700,000 residents has hampered CWD’s spread in eastern Dane County and beyond. Also, a four-lane highway heading west from Madison helps separate northern Iowa County from its southern half. CWD isn’t as prevalent in the relatively open agricultural landscapes south of the highway, which extend into Lafayette County and then Illinois. But CWD prevalence remains high north of that highway in Iowa County’s oak ridges, brushy ravines, and edge-rich valleys.
A recent eight-year DNR study by Storm’s team in northern Iowa County found CWD kills more female deer than do hunters once an area’s infection rate for does hits 29%. That rate has been exceeded across many parts of Dane, Iowa, Sauk and Richland counties. The rates are more obvious at the township level (36 square miles), than at the larger county-level scale. For 2025, Richland County’s CWD rate was 36% overall (both sexes), while CWD rates for its 16 townships ranged from lows of 21% and 23.5% to highs of 44% and 50%.
Regional CWD prevalence charts in 2024 also show those differences:
–Iowa County’s CWD rates in 12 regional charts vary from 25% to 47% for adult bucks, and 20% to 35% in adult females.
–Sauk County’s CWD rates in 10 regional charts vary from 30% to 58% for adult bucks, and 19% to 38% for adult females.
–Richland County’s CWD rates in eight regional charts vary from 40% to 55% for adult bucks, and 25% to 30% for adult females;
–Dane County’s CWD rates in two regional charts range from 25% to 35% for adult bucks, and 22% to 23% for adult females.
–Northwest Columbia County’s CWD rate was 55% for adult bucks and 35% for adult does.
–Northeastern Grant County’s CWD rate was 45% for adult bucks and 33% for adult does.
Photo Courtesy of Paul Annear
Views from the GroundMeanwhile, many hunters in Wisconsin’s core CWD counties don’t need B&C data to confirm what they’re seeing firsthand. In Iowa County, buck kills have plummeted since gun-hunters killed a record 4,738 antlered bucks in 1995, and 1,978 bucks in 2011. During November 2024’s nine-day gun season, they registered 916 bucks. And during November 2025’s nine-day gun season, they registered 894 bucks. The last time Iowa County’s buck kill was near or below 900 in back-to-back gun seasons was 1970 and 1971—55 years ago.
Jason Munz grew up on his family’s farm in Iowa County, which had 33 B&C entries for 1999-2024. Munz arrowed a 12-pointer with an 18-inch spread in November 2023. That’s his biggest buck since he began bowhunting at age 12 in 1993. Even so, Munz said deer hunting grew increasingly difficult as CWD spread death. His family rarely found dead-heads during his youth, but his father found six in Spring 2023 alone, including one scoring 140 inches.
“When we see a big buck on our trail cameras, if we don’t shoot him that year, we never see him again,” Munz told MeatEater. “Maybe someone on a nearby farm got him, but we don’t know. They just disappear.”
Likewise, Paul Annear grew up bowhunting on his family’s farm in Richland County, which entered 59 B&C bucks for 1999-2024, including eight Booners in 2012, six in 2005, and four in 2011and 2021.
CWD took roughly 15 years to reach Annear’s land from its original sites 40-plus miles to the southeast, but eight of 11 deer he’s killed since 2019 had the disease. He has no doubt CWD—not hunters or epizootic hemorrhagic disease—decimated his area’s herd the past five to six years. Plus, neither the Annears nor their neighbors changed their buck or doe management those years.
In 2020, Annear had at least one photo of 30 different bucks he estimated to be ages 3.5 or older. But in 2024 and again in 2025, his trail-cameras photographed only eight to 10 bucks in that age class, even with 20 more trail-cameras on his family’s 115-acre property than in 2020.
His trail-cameras also photograph sick, skeletal deer in their fields, woods, or creek. “So many people claim those sick, skinny deer are EHD victims,” Annear said. “But deer dying from CWD also go to water, and they live long enough to waste away. EHD kills deer in five to 10 days. That’s too quick for deer to lose much weight.” Further, EHD only strikes sporadically, and only in short outbreaks from late summer through the first frost.
Annear’s experience echoes what brothers Lloyd and Mike Purnell report farther east in Richland County. In 2006, the Purnells’ four properties covering 700 acres were CWD-free. In 2019, they found 10 dead deer. In 2020, they found eight bodies before April, usually just inside the woods near fields with cut corn or other crops. One doe died surrounded by corn.
During 2024, the Purnells and their friends shot 20 deer by mid-December. Nine (45%)—all bucks—had CWD. One year their properties’ overall infection rate hit 55%, with roughly half being does. In 2025, eight of 14 bucks (57%) they shot had CWD. “We had a 140-class buck running around last fall, but that’s the biggest we’ve seen in a while,” Purnell told MeatEater.
Looking to the FutureWhat lies ahead, now that Wisconsin’s CWD detection rates set records the past four years and seven of the past 10?
Bryan Richards was the U.S. Geological Survey’s longtime emerging-disease coordinator until retiring recently after decades of CWD work. Richards foresees a “new equilibrium” for deer herds in CWD-endemic areas. That means high disease rates, lower deer numbers, smaller and younger herds, and few “trophy” bucks.
“At some point, it’s impossible Wisconsin won’t see fewer (B&C) bucks,” Richards told MeatEater. “How many bucks can reach age 5½ in counties where young bucks have a 20% chance of having CWD at 18 months, and a 40% chance by age 4½ and 5½? Not many. A true Boone and Crockett whitetail is really, really rare to start with. With CWD, put a couple more ‘reallys’ in that phrase. CWD kills every deer that gets it, including half the bucks that must reach maturity to grow huge antlers. ‘Rare’ is a small number. ‘None’ is even smaller.”
How will CWD affect Wisconsin’s top five B&C counties, four of which didn’t detect the disease until 2015 or later?
–No. 1 Buffalo County’s first CWD case was 2022. It now has 34 cases. Its 2025 detection rate was 4.3%
–No. 2 Richland’s first case was 2002. It now has 2,904. Its 2025 detection rate: 36%.
–No. 3 Vernon’s first case was 2017. It now has 334. Its 2025 detection rate: 14%.
–No. 4 Trempealeau’s first case was 2023. It now has 22. Its 2025 detection rate: 4.2%.
–No. 5 Crawford’s first case was 2015. It now has 263. Its 2025 detection rate: 13.2%.
Storm said there’s no reason CWD won’t infect Buffalo and Trempealeau counties any differently than it did Richland, Vernon or Crawford. All five of those counties have fertile soils and high percentages of deer habitat. Buffalo County is 74% deer range; and Richland is 81%; Vernon, 71%; Trempealeau, 69%; and Crawford, 81%.
Once CWD detection rates hit 5%, the disease is considered “endemic.” That is, it’s not going away. After CWD reached 5% in Sauk, Iowa and Richland counties, it hit 10% to 15% within three years. If Buffalo and Trempealeau’s CWD rates follow suit, their infections would hit 10% by 2028 and 20% by 2031. And if Buffalo and Trempealeau infections mimic Richland’s, CWD rates would surpass 30% around 2035.
Mike Purnell and Paul Annear long feared CWD would hurt Richland County’s deer herd, and now they’re living with its impacts.
“Deer numbers are way down, and big bucks are nonexistent,” Mike Purnell said. “It’s a new world because of CWD.”
Annear doesn’t think whitetails will vanish from his area, but the average age of “mature” bucks has dropped from 5½ to 6½ to 3½ and 4½ for his area. If he could go back to when CWD first appeared, he would encourage and follow more aggressive deer management.
“It’s not too late in many areas of the country to do something,” Annear said. “Ignoring CWD might help short-term hunting opportunities, but it doesn’t protect the future of deer and deer hunting. I doubt there’s a perfect way to manage CWD, but sitting around accepting it doesn’t seem right, either.”
Rifle hunting, specifically for whitetails, tends to get side-eyed compared to bowhunting. There’s an obvious level of skill, dedication, and a learning curve when it comes to bowhunting. The level of detail and minutiae required to locate, hunt, and fling an arrow often takes a bit of the surprise out of hunting. This is especially true if you cast a wide net of cameras to target specific deer.
Hear me out, I’m not saying it’s not exciting to arrow a big buck (obviously it is) or that you can’t be surprised during bow season. I spend most of my deer season with bow in hand, but I’m just as thrilled to pick up my rifle. Whenever I break a gun out of the safe, two things happen: my expectations lower, and my optimism increases. It might just be a bit of nostalgia from my early days of hunting, but it makes hunting exciting—and that keeps me in the woods.
Low Stakes High RewardUnlike bowhunting, you don’t have to be on top of the “X” with a rifle. Yes, you should still rifle hunt like a bowhunter, but you have some wiggle room. Instead of a 30-yard range, you might have a 75- to 150-yard range. There’s a lot less stress involved when your theoretical kill zone exponentially increases and you don’t have to worry about timing your draw.
You can also get away with more when it comes to the wind. No, you can’t completely beat a deer’s nose, but you can hunt with less favorable winds when you don’t have to set up 20 yards off the trail. Having that extra room for error isn’t a license to get sloppy. Instead, it should allow you to get aggressive without the added pressures of bowhunting.
Deer the author took in the big woods. Photo by Adam Moore.
Tagging Out in the Big WoodsDeer hunting in the big woods is hard. Putting any deer, let alone mature bucks, within archery range can be a feat in itself. That difficulty also makes it incredibly rewarding when you do kill a deer in the big woods. There’s something almost mythical about watching a buck, regardless of size, stroll through vast and monotonous timber. Deer can, and do, come from almost anywhere. That range of possibilities adds mystery to deer hunting. When you bowhunt specific whitetails or even a specific area, deer movement can become somewhat predictable. Not in the big woods.
The allure of any deer coming from anywhere can rekindle those hopeful, maybe even naive, expectations that you probably experienced as a young hunter. While the chances of shooting a big buck might be really low, that doesn’t stop them from existing. Rifle hunting the big woods can make it feel like more of a reality than trying to get one within bow range.
Rifles Were Made for Still-HuntingSure, this point goes for bowhunting, too, but the extended range of a rifle makes still-hunting one of the most exciting ways to gun hunt. Again, the restrictions that bowhunting imposes on hunters make it rewarding in its own right. But, rifles were made for still-hunting.
This is why lever actions still rule the deer woods. You can make quick, offhand shots in the timber. And just because the deer spots you first doesn't mean it’s over. You want exciting? Try keeping your composure while you take aim at a spooked deer. I’ve killed a few after having them blow at me. Good luck doing that with a bow.
It’s probably because my expectations are low when I’m still hunting, but those are some of the hunts I look forward to the most throughout the season. Even if I’m just using them to scout, still-hunts with a rifle can be surprisingly fun, especially during the rut. Yes, you can do this with a bow, but your odds of success greatly increase with a rifle.
Last ShotEven if you’re a dedicated bowhunter, gun hunting can give you a much-needed change of pace. Instead of lone-wolfing it, plan a rifle hunt with a few of your buddies. Or use it as an opportunity to fill a doe tag or scout a new area. You might just surprise yourself.
Anyone reading this could look at my daily step counts since early February and know exactly what I’ve been up to. For me, it’s partly a coping mechanism, and partly a thrill in itself to comb the whitetail woods in search of discarded headgear. Peak shed season falls perfectly between trapping season and turkey season, which gives my outdoor-obsessed brain something to cling to in the void. But shed hunting on public land is often a low-odds deal, no matter how hopeful I am when I walk out the door.
This is the reality for a lot of hunters, and it often forces you to think outside of the box if you want to find more antlers. If you’ve been struggling to find more bone, here are a few ways to make your shed hunting more productive on pressured ground.
The Path Less TraveledSocial media is plastered with dream shed hunting scenarios. Matched sets displayed on manicured lawns, mowed-down food plots, and generally unrealistic scenarios for the majority of workaday hunters. Whitetail candyland exists, but unless you’re willing to pay to play, you’ll have to focus your time on pressured ground.
Public land shed hunters, and even those with access to private land who share it with other rack junkies, need to understand this reality. Your success won’t mirror those on carefully curated ground with exclusive access, and neither will your efforts. Sure, I’ve found a handful of field sheds over the years. But if all you do is walk the ag, you’re destined for a net-negative experience. It’s not that bucks don’t drop in public fields, but the bulk of the competition is going to look there first. Unless you can get there as soon as that buck drops, you might go home empty-handed.
Instead of obvious spots, consider where pressured bucks like to hide and bust out your brush pants. All of my biggest sheds and sets have come from the gnarliest thickets and ridges where no one else wanted or thought to look.
I look at it this way: I know I have to cover a lot of ground, but only small, hard-to-walk pieces of that ground are likely to offer me any bone. It’s no different from trying to find a little concentration of deer during the fall hunting season after the pressure has been heavy for a month. They will spend a disproportionate amount of time in places people go the least.
When it comes to sheds, it’s easy to walk around those spots. If you shed hunt where the competition is fierce, you simply have to do what most people won’t. Even then, you’ll probably return with an empty pack.
Reframe the MissionMaybe I’m an outlier, but sheds alone are sometimes not enough motivation for me to get pricked by a hundred thorns or aggravate my sciatica. Don’t get me wrong, the sight of a tine peeking through the leaves always excites me. But when my only goal is to find an antler, I can’t always keep my head in the game.
My favorite way to shed hunt is more like winter scouting. It might be ground-truthing a potential bedding area that I pinned in onX back in November, or searching for dormant feed trees in remote hardwoods, but I always have a scouting goal in mind before I start walking.
That deeper sense of purpose and curiosity pushes me through areas I might otherwise try to avoid and keeps me from falling into what I call “bored reader syndrome.” That is, when your eyes are moving across a page, but your brain is absorbing exactly none of the information.
Combining winter scouting with a shed mission gives me two goals for every expedition. That lessens the blow if I don’t turn up any antlers, and makes the effort always seem worth it. It also allows me to pick apart deer ground with a plan, which usually helps me find those little islands of activity that might actually have some overlooked antlers in them. This scouting mindset also makes me more attentive, which is the missing piece for so many dejected shed hunters.
Slow and SteadyI actually didn’t have sheds in mind at all when I found my first antler of this year. I was stalking cottontails in a mature hedgerow in mid-February when I nearly stepped on a 4-point beauty that looked to be at least a week or two old. There’s no doubt in my mind that the majority of field walkers would have passed within a few yards of that shed and never seen it. Considering that I was on public land close to town, it’s pretty likely that some did. But I scored the prize, because I was laser-focused and moving at a snail’s pace.
This is something I can’t stress enough. It’s easy to think more miles equal more antlers. There is a correlation, but it’s like fishing a small stream–it’s fun to see what’s around the next bend, but if you don’t fish the closest pool with intention, you’ll miss out on fish. Wanderlust is fun, but it can cost you some golden opportunities.
Don’t just burn through 15 miles a day, but try to think critically about where bucks were most likely to drop their headgear. This goes beyond basic bedding and food sources, and into understanding how they might use the terrain and vegetation to their advantage.
Remember, if you’re 10 yards off, you might as well be 1000 off in the right cover. A lot of bone can hide in the right half-acre, especially if most folks are just focused on getting to the next ridge.
Baiting is one of the biggest hot-button issues in hunting. Regardless of species, everyone has an opinion. This is especially true for deer hunting, where antler inches can make toddlers out of grown men. Opponents of baiting often raise ethical or moral questions about the tactic itself and the risk of potential disease exposure involved with congregated deer herds. Those in favor of baiting compare it to food plots or similar strategies for attracting and holding deer at specific locations.
I live in Mississippi, where baiting is legal. Its restrictions are mainly limited to public lands. For whitetail hunting on private lands, it’s fair game. Talk to nearly any hunter from my state, and you can assume that they’re running corn. It’s just part of the hunting culture. Even though I’m a lifelong resident of this state, I don’t have a ton of experience with baiting. So, to get the lowdown on all things baiting, I spoke with the Element’s K.C. Smith.
K.C. is from Texas, the baiting capital of the whitetail world. He baits on his property there, and grew up in a place where baiting is the norm. K.C. offers a unique and authoritative perspective on baiting specifically because of his experience with it, but also because he’s known for killing big bucks on public ground with his bow (usually at ground level) all over the country.
What is Baiting? If you’re unfamiliar with the tactic of baiting, K.C. defined it as “the strategic placement of corn, pellets, or anything to attract or hold deer on a certain property,” he said. Essentially, anything that’s used for the purpose of attracting and holding deer can be considered bait. This could include corn, mineral blocks, and, yes, even food plots.
While most people associate baiting with killing deer, it can also be used for camera intel. There are a lot of hunters, especially in states where you can’t hunt over bait, that use it before deer season starts to gather intel on their local deer herd. Yet, a lot of hunters don’t consider this actual baiting, even though they use this tactic to ultimately locate deer in hopes of killing one. It’s one of the many contradictions that hunters ignore. Bait can attract and hold deer in certain areas, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get a shot at that big buck.
Baiting MisconceptionsRegardless of what a lot of hunters think, baiting doesn’t eliminate all the guesswork in deer hunting. It also doesn’t mean that hunters who bait lack the skills of hunters who don’t. Still, that won’t squash any of the misconceptions out there.
Baiting Makes It Easy to Kill Big BucksIt’s easy to look at your neighbors or other hunters and blame baiting for all the big bucks they kill. Sure, someone might get lucky and have a monster stroll into a corn pile, but the same could happen in your food plot. I’ve been guilty of this thinking in the past, especially in seasons when I just couldn’t catch a break. But, bait piles just don’t guarantee big bucks as most people assume.
“It's tough to kill a big buck over a bait pile,” K.C. said. “If anything, it can make it harder, especially if you have good cover on your property. When deer find cover near corn or feed, they’ll bed nearby, making your access even more critical.”
He pointed out that big bucks still approach a feeder like they do other food sources by circling downwind. This is why a lot of hunters who run feeders get plenty of nighttime pictures of big bucks but never see them during shooting hours. It’s not as simple as sitting directly over a bait pile.
Only Lazy Hunters BaitPeople who feed deer are lazy. That’s what a lot of people assume about hunters that run bait, but that’s hardly the case. “I know guys who spend 12-hour days throwing around 50-pound bags of corn,” K.C. said. “That’s a lot more work than people are used to.”
Obviously, those are large hunting operations, either for outfitters or landowners, but that’s more work hours than most people spend in a day at their nine-to-five. That time doesn’t account for everything else, like stand prep, camera work, and the hours spent hunting. Theoretically, you could dump a pile of corn on the ground and set up within rifle range of it, but that’s not the way most hunters use bait.
Not to say there aren’t plenty of people who use bait this way or even illegally, which K.C. pointed out. However, the person who illegally dumps a pile of corn where it’s prohibited isn’t the same person who baits within the legal boundaries of the law.
Baiting Intel“If you want to keep tabs on deer during the year, there’s probably no better way to do it than with bait,” K.C. said. “I use it on properties where I want camera data and to understand what deer use the property.”
Where legal, putting cameras over bait can help you take inventory of the local deer herd. This is especially true for areas where food might be a limited resource, especially in places outside of ag country. Small parcels are another place where baiting can be super effective.
“In my area of Texas, there’s a ton of small parcels where people bait,” K.C. said. “It’s about the only way to attract deer to your property.”
In Texas and other states where baiting is legal, feeders can play a big role in deer sightings and movement. Though not always the case, you might not see as many deer if the surrounding properties bait but you don’t. In these instances, baiting can provide a focal point on the landscape, where you might otherwise not have something that naturally draws deer to or through your property.
Aside from trail camera data, K.C. pointed out that bait can also provide feed where food plots aren’t possible or on distant properties where you might only visit when it’s time to hunt.
How to Hunt Over BaitLike any hunting tactic, you need a good strategy to be effective. If you’re unfamiliar with K.C. Smith and Tyler Jones, you should check them out on YouTube. They make a living bowhunting (and killing) big bucks on public ground all across the states. They’re some of the best DIY hunters out there. They know how to run-and-gun for big bucks, but they’re not above using bait where it’s legal.
Turns out that effectively hunting over bait isn’t really different from hunting over food plots, feed trees, or other food sources. The approach remains the same. Though there are a few things specific to baiting that you have to consider.
“You can certainly just put a pile of bait out, but timed feeders that fling out protein or corn help make sure that the feed doesn’t ruin from moisture,” K.C. said. “This allows people to feed during daylight hours and control how much they put out.”
Regarding feeder placement, K.C. said that finding spots just off natural travel corridors is a great starting place. The idea isn’t to hunt directly over the feeder but to set up somewhere downwind of it, preferably along a travel corridor. This could be 50 yards downwind or 500.
K.C. cited a hunt, which you can watch here on YouTube, where he killed a buck that had been visiting a feeder at night. Instead of sitting over the feeder and blindly hoping that deer would show, he picked the closest optimal bedding cover, which happened to be about 500 yards away, and decided to rattle in that area. He ended up rattling in that same buck they had on camera and shooting it.
It’s not the way most people imagine using bait to kill a big buck, but it's a similar approach that you would take to hunting over other food sources or how you might interpret trail camera data.
“It’s just like another tool in your belt,” K.C. said about baiting, “you just have to know how to use it.”
Risks Involved with BaitingNo matter where you land on baiting, there’s no getting around the fact that this strategy congregates large concentrations of deer within a small area. It’s not the congregating itself that is problematic, but when deer infected with EHD, CWD, or other diseases risk contaminating the rest of the herd.
Because feeders or other bait sites continually replace food in the same place, deer tend to feed in the same spots. Unlike food plots or even hot feed trees that have a shelf life each year, bait sites can increase disease transmission.
The votes are in, and we have a winner! Wisconsin has officially been crowned the “Best Whitetail State” after beating out Michigan with 54% of the votes.
With an estimated deer population of 1.6 million and over 6.6 million acres of public land, it’s no wonder The Badger State is a whitetailer's paradise.
To see the full rundown of the October Madness, Best Whitetail State bracket, click here.
Janis Putelis repped Wisconsin in this bracket and has a good reason why: “My favorite whitetail state is Wisconsin. It's got the hardcore deer culture of Michigan AND big bucks. It's also where I own deer hunting land, which I love to manage the habitat on. My connection to that 40 acres is stronger than ever. I can smell it just thinking about it. And although I grew up hunting Michigan and Wisconsin, Wisconsin is where we had our real deer camp. A deer camp is a special thing; I wouldn't be who I am today without that camp.”
Want to watch some Wisconsin whitetail action? Check out the videos below:
I stood up, swearing, as I watched the buck I’d been tracking all morning finally catch my wind and sprint for the private land downslope. The does that were with him scattered, bouncing downhill and out of reach. The buck bounded over the barbed wire and then, as if he understood the meaning of the property line he’d just crossed (he probably did), he stopped and looked back at me, smug and handsome. Eight tines gleaming in the sun.
I was exhausted. It had been eight hours since I’d pulled into the trailhead at four o’clock that morning, and the heat of the late afternoon sun beat down relentlessly. Sweat stung my eyes, and my rifle felt heavier than normal. For the past four hours, I’d stalked the buck and his small herd of does. I was on the nearly treeless south-facing slope of a drainage near where I lived in northwestern Montana, and I was defeated.
I trudged back to the car, and as I slipped my rifle off my shoulder, I caught the sunwarmed scent of the worn leather of the rifle strap. I immediately recalled my first ever hunt, one with my grandfather in our home state of New Hampshire.
I woke up early and drove through snow-covered back roads to my grandparents’ house. My Grandma greeted me with a hug and a plate of biscuits. My Grandpa was already down in the workshop waiting for me. His workshop, which was located in the basement, was clad with taxidermied deer, hunting photos, and a library of Louis L’Amour books. It always smelled like leather and gun oil and books and old wood. As a child, I stared in awe at the photos and antlers, enthralled by stories of his adventures. To this day, I can’t clean a rifle or read a Western without remembering my grandfather.
That morning, Grandpa was fiddling around with a backpack in the workshop, shuffling here and there, comparing different boxes of slugs and handing me orange vests to find one that I liked. He selected a walking stick from a pile of them leaning in the corner, and then he handed me a shotgun to see how it fit my shoulder.
My grandparents’ house backed up to nearly a thousand acres of patchworked conservation lands managed by various state and local entities. Grandpa explained that we were going to walk out into the back woods, as he called them, until we found tracks in the new snow. He’d sit down by a tree as I followed the tracks for a while to see if we could scare up any deer.
Excited, I pulled one of the orange vests on over my coat, and we set out into the forest. Every few steps, Grandpa leaned on his stick, scanning the trees for tracks or deer from beneath his orange-brimmed hat. I followed, heart pounding and trying my hardest to keep noise to a minimum while we snuck through the snow-muffled forest.
We soon found a couple sets of fresh deer tracks leading further into the woods. Grandpa whistled softly, gesturing for me to follow them. He leaned back against a tree and cradled his shotgun in his arms. I followed the tracks for a while, over a frozen bog and through thick stands of birch. Eventually, the woods opened up, and the tracks continued into a large clearing. I found a boulder at the edge and sat against it, scanning the edges of the clearing and listening hard. I could feel the day warming up slightly. Squirrels skittered and cackled in the trees above me. With every sound of the waking forest, my adrenaline rose, and I clutched the shotgun. I peered through the low-powered scope with hope thudding in my heart.
After an hour or so with no deer, I hung my head and followed my tracks back to Grandpa. When I found him, he looked like he was a part of the forest, as if he’d always been there and always would be. Yet, his bright orange and dark green flannel stood out against the backdrop of snow and birch trees. He raised his hand in a silent wave.
I told him about my morning, and he laughed and said something like, “That’s usually how it goes. What a beautiful morning out here. We should head back anyway, I think your Grandma has some more biscuits and ham that she needs help with.”
We crept through the trees at Grandpa’s steady yet fluid pace. Following his steps, I felt more attuned to the forest instead of like something that didn’t belong there. On the walk in, I had been so nervous about making noise that I only paid attention to myself. Now, I noticed everything–a faint smell of woodsmoke through the cold, the way the snow on the south sides of the trees wilted under the late-morning sun, the low, heartbeat-like thrum of a grouse.
When we got back to the house, we shared biscuits and coffee with Grandma, recounting the morning. I realized that, for the first time, I was part of one of my grandfather’s hunting adventures that had so captured me as a child. I was hooked.
Back at the trailhead in Montana, I looked up from the car and, for the first time since spooking the deer, forgot my frustration. The view was spectacular–golden grass-covered hills and deep ravines dark with thick stands of spruce, all rising to snowcapped mountains in the distant haze of early sunset.
I unloaded my rifle, looking closely at it. It was a gift from my grandfather, in his early years of dementia. He’s no longer here, but for years he’d carried the same rifle with the same tooled leather strap, imbuing it with his sweat and effort and hope, as I did now.
I didn’t fully know it on that morning in New Hampshire, but that hunt was the first of many. Since then, I’ve hauled that Winchester rifle all over the place–high sagebrush country in south-central Oregon, towering larch and ponderosa forests in Montana, the frozen hills and thick, wet woods of New Hampshire. Some hunts ended with meat in the freezer; most haven’t. Regardless, each has added chapters to the hunting stories I’ll tell my own children and grandchildren, stories that, one way or another, will always include Grandpa.
I laid the rifle on the backseat and jumped in the car, creeping it down the dirt road. Dusk-cooled air streamed through the open window. Maybe that buck would be back in the morning. Either way, I’d be there to pick up the trail.
This probably says more about me than I care to face, but I really want my daughters to be good deer hunters. I don’t want them to just love going hunting; I want them to love the process.
The anxiety I feel around this probably has a lot to do with the fact that I have facilitated pretty much all of their success in the deer woods to date. Yet, I know that if you do everything for kids, they don’t learn to do anything for themselves. If you don’t believe this, spend an evening talking to a middle-school teacher sometime.
The internal battle I deal with over doing too much for my daughters, and the way in which I want them to love the deer game, is real. But, as they’ve aged, I’ve discovered sneaky ways to get them more involved in the entire process, and I think it’s helping to nudge them in the right direction. This really begins and ends with thinking about the different parts of any given hunt, and where you can get them involved.
Bloody BuddiesThe only private spot I have to hunt that’s within two hours of my house is a small, 25-acre chunk in the suburbs. I’m grateful to have it, believe me, but it’s also really challenging. I share it with the landowner who hunts quite a bit, and am lucky enough to bring my daughters out to hunt it.
That’s a lot of pressure for not a lot of land. Land that is surrounded by houses, which means shot selection and execution are always a dominant thought. This was definitely on my mind when I settled in over a small pond on the property a few weeks back.
It was 87 degrees, so I figured the water might draw in a buck or a doe. Two hours into the sit, it drew in both, and while the doe winded me instantly, a small buck stood around for a while before walking off. As soon as he did, a much better deer showed up, and when he stood broadside at 22 yards, I watched my arrow zip through his ribs.
It was one of those no-doubt shots, and I knew he wouldn’t go 75 yards. I texted my daughters, who had just gotten home from volleyball, to see if they’d help with the blood trail. When my wife dropped them off, I told them this one was all theirs and settled into third place. If you know me, you know how painful that was.
Well, the girls trailed him through some thick stuff, through a little pine desert, and out into a powerline. According to my onX, he’d gone farther than I knew he should, so that didn’t feel great. I still let the girls take lead on the trail, and when we lost him on a mowed path in the powerline, I started to question my judgment.
It took maybe 15 minutes, but one of my daughters picked up blood down the trail, and a few minutes later, she found him. That was a hunt they mostly weren’t involved in, that suddenly became all about their skills. They haven’t stopped talking about that blood trail since, and I can’t help but think that finding those moments to include them will only help stoke the fire. This is something I learned when they were far younger.
Scout Sisters The easiest way to teach my daughters about deer was to take them scouting when they were younger. If you’re in the off-season, this is a low-pressure style of getting into the woods where you can walk wherever you want, and make as much noise as you want. Both of those things are good for kids.
Having them find rubs, and then explaining the sign to them, is educational in a way that just hunting with them will never be. I think this is partially because it’s a hands-on approach, and also helps stoke curiosity, which is the secret sauce to staying really interested in something.
Instead of marching them into the woods for a hunt that is all set up and ready to go, teach them about deer in the months leading up to the hunt. Make them wonder about where deer live and why they do what they do, and then take them hunting. The pieces will click together much better, and even if they don’t recognize it, they’ll have some level of buy-in to the actual hunt that matters so much.
And then if they do kill, or you do, you have a prime opportunity to involve them in a part of the process that keeps them tethered to deer all year long.
Butcher BasicsOver the last few years, my daughters have killed a dozen deer between them. We butchered them all ourselves. Their role in the process has gone from grabbing a roll of freezer paper, or maybe labelling the packages, to helping me skin, trim, and generally take whole parts of their deer and turn them into meal-sized portions fit for the freezer.
They don’t love it, no more than most of us actually love the butchering process. But they do love being involved in it, because it’s important. It’s also important for them to point out, throughout the year, whose deer we might be serving up for dinner. They stay connected to the hunt throughout the off-season in a positive way, and they learn that if they help with the butchering process, they are free to brag about their deer-killing prowess every time we thaw a package of venison.
While they may not be able to help you hang a ladder stand or glass for multiple evenings in a row throughout the summer, your kids can be a big part of the hunting process. Find ways to involve them and keep them curious, and you just might light a fire that will burn until it’s time for them to teach their own kids about deer and how to hunt them.
Whitetail hunters love to argue about which state holds the biggest and baddest bucks. But which one is really the best?
Well, a lot of what makes hunting ground “the best” depends on your personal preferences. Do you like big bucks, and you cannot lie? Maybe you just like to hunt around fewer people. Or maybe you like to feel like a kid in a candy shop, surrounded by opportunities for deer of all ages. Do you prefer to travel or are you more of a homebody? Maybe you like to manage a food plot and be able to set up trail cams.
There is no real definitive answer for the best whitetail state, so we asked the crew what their favorites are. And ultimately, we want you to determine which state will be crowned the Best Whitetail State by voting below. Did your favorite whitetail state not get included? Sound off in the comments!
It's the final round, and whitetail roots run deep in these two midwestern states. Michigan and Wisconsin are both saturated with deer hunting culture. But which will claim the crown? You decide!
Wisconsin“My favorite whitetail state is Wisconsin. It's got the hardcore deer culture of Michigan AND big bucks. It's also where I own deer hunting land, which I love to manage the habitat on. My connection to that 40 acres is stronger than ever. I can smell it just thinking about it. And although I grew up hunting Michigan and Wisconsin, Wisconsin is where we had our real deer camp. A deer camp is a special thing; I wouldn't be who I am today without that camp.” - Janis Putelis
Deer Population Estimate: 1.6 MillionPublic Lands: 6.6 million acres
Avg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 153,678Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 165,389Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 27Tag Price: $24 resident, $200 nonresident
Michigan “My pick is Michigan, and the reasons might surprise you. No, Michigan is not the best state to visit if you want a slam-dunk chance at killing a giant buck. But if you want a true whitetail cultural experience, this state cannot be beat.
Opening day here is akin to a national holiday, roadside box blinds and ladder stands are more commonly seen than billboards, and the buck poles - holy wah - if you haven't been to a Michigan buck pole, you haven't quite yet lived. Not only that, but we've got a pile of deer in the state, plentiful public lands in most regions, and so many other hunters that you'll never have to fear being lonely, lost, or lacking for a deer-dragging partner. Finally, the Great Lakes state has produced some of our nation's most noted hunters. Folks like Fred Bear, Ted Nugent, John Eberhart, Andy May, and, of course, Steve Rinella and Janis Putelis! I dare you to disagree.” - Mark Kenyon
Deer Population Estimate: 2 MillionPublic Lands: 4.6 million acresAvg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 218,500Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 164,379Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 38Deer Tag Price: $40 resident, $190 nonresident
(Harvest data via the National Deer Association’s 2024 Deer Report.)
Note: Votes will not be counted from the comment section, so please use the voting box below to select your favorite state and ensure it advances to the next bracket!
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Whitetail hunters love to argue about which state holds the biggest and baddest bucks. But which one is really the best?
Well, a lot of what makes hunting ground “the best” depends on your personal preferences. Do you like big bucks, and you cannot lie? Maybe you just like to hunt around fewer people. Or maybe you like to feel like a kid in a candy shop, surrounded by opportunities for deer of all ages. Do you prefer to travel or are you more of a homebody? Maybe you like to manage a food plot and be able to set up trail cams.
There is no real definitive answer for the best whitetail state, so we asked the crew what their favorites are. And ultimately, we want you to determine which state will be crowned the Best Whitetail State by voting below. Did your favorite whitetail state not get included? Sound off in the comments!
Kansas beat out Arkansas, and Michigan came out on top over North Dakota. So now you have to decide who reigns supreme between the whitetail mecca of Michigan and the big bucks of Kansas.
Kansas“My favorite whitetail state is Kansas. Giant bucks, one buck tag per hunter, limited entry for out-of-state hunters, and conservative season dates for firearm hunters make for giant bucks and great bowhunting. This Great Plains state has incredible soils, which translate to incredible whitetails. If you live there or can get draw, you’ll probably have a great hunt.” - Clay Newcomb
Deer Population Estimate: 650,000Public Lands: 470,000 acres or 1% of the state’s landAvg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 42,423Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 38,110Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 39Deer Tag Price: $42.50 resident, $447.50 nonresident
Michigan“My pick is Michigan, and the reasons might surprise you. No, Michigan is not the best state to visit if you want a slam-dunk chance at killing a giant buck. But if you want a true whitetail cultural experience, this state cannot be beat.
Opening day here is akin to a national holiday, roadside box blinds and ladder stands are more commonly seen than billboards, and the buck poles - holy wah - if you haven't been to a Michigan buck pole, you haven't quite yet lived. Not only that, but we've got a pile of deer in the state, plentiful public lands in most regions, and so many other hunters that you'll never have to fear being lonely, lost, or lacking for a deer-dragging partner. Finally, the Great Lakes state has produced some of our nation's most noted hunters. Folks like Fred Bear, Ted Nugent, John Eberhart, Andy May, and, of course, Steve Rinella and Janis Putelis! I dare you to disagree.” - Mark Kenyon
Deer Population Estimate: 2 MillionPublic Lands: 4.6 million acresAvg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 218,500Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 164,379Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 38Deer Tag Price: $40 resident, $190 nonresident
(Harvest data via the National Deer Association’s 2024 Deer Report.)
Note: Votes will not be counted from the comment section, so please use the voting box below to select your favorite state and ensure it advances to the next bracket!
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I have never had more trail cameras out in any given season than I do this year. It’s weird. While they are all out on private land, my season is split up pretty evenly between hunting those parcels and setting out on public where I have zero digital intel going.
The difference between planning a private land rut hunt where I’ve had nine cell cameras going since July, and walking into some tract of public land in Wisconsin or North Dakota totally blind, is stark. It’s also a good reminder of how much of an asset cameras can be, but also how we can use them wrong. This was no more evident to me than during the first couple days of the season in my home state of Minnesota.
Careless Whisper CamerasI have permission to hunt a 25-acre piece of dirt in the suburbs where I live. On it, the landowner runs a handful of cell cameras. One of them overlooks a lone apple tree at the far corner of the property. It’s an early-season deer magnet, and that means a couple of things.
The first is that it’ll show a lot of bachelor group activity in the days leading up to the mid-September opener. The second is that it’ll talk to the landowner into sitting that tree, regardless of conditions.
That happened this year, and on his first sit, a young buck came in and the shot did not work out well. The deer didn’t care, and they kept showing up on camera, so he texted me that he was going to hunt again. I checked the wind, and realized that it would be blowing right from the blind, to the tree, to beyond the tree into the woodlot where most of the bucks approach the tree from.
I mentioned that, and he said he’d consider it. I had my suspicions that the siren song would be too strong, and I was right. He sat there anyway, and the results were predictable. When you have an active camera, it’s a lot of fun. It’s also dangerous, because all of those pictures show up when you’re not there. When you are there, everything changes. Don’t let a trail camera talk you into sitting during the wrong conditions, because you could erase the value of all that intel in one ill-fated morning or evening.
This mistake can break the other way, as well.
Intuition Enders A far more common mistake hunters make is deciding that their trail cameras haven’t shown them enough deer activity to prove that not hunting is the best move. This drives me absolutely nuts, even though it’s extremely common.
Now, if you have 10 acres to hunt and your go-to strategy is to sit over a feeder, then by all means, trust your camera. In about every other situation, be careful. A dead camera might mean a lot of nocturnal movement and not much to work with during shooting hours, or it just might mean things have changed slightly.
If you’ve ever seen a really hot oak tree, or maybe a persimmon tree, you know what I mean. One ridge, or a single tree could come on, and soak up the activity on a camera for a week or two. Sometimes more.
Don’t look for an excuse not to hunt. Trail cameras can absolutely be that excuse, and they only become more persuasive if we pair slow activity with some kind of weather condition we feel will put the deer down. Instead of calling it on a hunt because you’re not getting the pics you want, ask yourself where they might be moving instead.
Consider it a challenge to overcome, and not a problem that can be solved by staying home to rake the yard and watch a football game.
Perfect vs. Good EnoughWe all know how exciting it is to get a daytime picture of a stud buck. But a one-off event isn’t much more than an intriguing, yet small, piece of the puzzle. Two images in a week might be enough to get you to set an early alarm, or you might think it’s just not quite enough to warrant a sit.
The truth is, we often look for perfect when good enough should do it. Most bucks aren’t going to walk the same trail every day, in daylight, any more than they’ll hit the same field corner over and over for days at a time. Deer are patternable, they just often aren’t that patternable. This only gets more true as October winds down and November comes rolling in.
If a buck shows up in daylight, that might be good enough to start putting some effort into him. Don’t think about it solely as him walking in front of one of your cameras at whatever time of day it is, think about why he’s there. How he got there, and where he might have been going. This way, you won’t view that intel solely through the lens of the spot where your camera is at, which might not be ideal to hunt for whatever reason.
Maybe he showed up on your camera in one spot, because he likely walked through past one of your stands where you don’t have a camera. What can you surmise from a single image that might mean you don’t need to wait for another to convince yourself to go after him? Or, maybe it’s nothing more than a reason to sneak in and scout a little for fresh sign somewhere near the camera’s location.
Whatever it is, consider a daylight picture of a good one a gift. Then figure out how to use it to the best of your abilities, before it becomes old news.
Whitetail hunters love to argue about which state holds the biggest and baddest bucks. But which one is really the best?
Well, a lot of what makes hunting ground “the best” depends on your personal preferences. Do you like big bucks, and you cannot lie? Maybe you just like to hunt around fewer people. Or maybe you like to feel like a kid in a candy shop, surrounded by opportunities for deer of all ages. Do you prefer to travel or are you more of a homebody? Maybe you like to manage a food plot and be able to set up trail cams.
There is no real definitive answer for the best whitetail state, so we asked the crew what their favorites are. And ultimately, we want you to determine which state will be crowned the Best Whitetail State by voting below. Did your favorite whitetail state not get included? Sound off in the comments!
We’re on the second round! Jake’s pick of Iowa beat out Spencer’s pick of Kentucky with a close 57%. Janis’ choice, Wisconsin, smoked Steve’s choice, Alaska, with a whopping 97% of the votes (to the great surprise of all the dedicated whitetailers of Alaska). Who will come out on top in this round? That’s up to you to decide.
Wisconsin“My favorite whitetail state is Wisconsin. It's got the hardcore deer culture of Michigan AND big bucks. It's also where I own deer hunting land, which I love to manage the habitat on. My connection to that 40 acres is stronger than ever. I can smell it just thinking about it. And although I grew up hunting Michigan and Wisconsin, Wisconsin is where we had our real deer camp. A deer camp is a special thing; I wouldn't be who I am today without that camp.” - Janis Putelis
Deer Population Estimate: 1.6 MillionPublic Lands: 6.6 million acres or 17% of the state’s landAvg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 153,678Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 165,389Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 27Tag Price: $24 resident, $200 nonresident
Iowa“This list wouldn’t be complete without Iowa. There’s a long line to draw an archery tag (anywhere from 3-6 years, depending on the zone), and for good reason. Strict regulations protect the resource, and the line just keeps getting longer. If you love bowhunting whitetails and having an opportunity of a mature whitetail—Iowa is the top of the list for me.” - Jake Hofer
Deer Population Estimate: 445,000Public Lands: 1,576 square miles or about 2.8% of the state’s landAvg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 46,725Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 58,432Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 28Deer Tag Price: $33 resident, $498 non-resident
(Harvest data via the National Deer Association’s 2024 Deer Report.)
Note: Votes will not be counted from the comment section, so please use the voting box below to select your favorite state and ensure it advances to the next bracket!
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We were belly-crawling down a dirt road when Newt paused, raised his binos, and whispered, “I think they’re whitetails.” I couldn’t see anything, and my hands were too cold to break out the binos. It was a sharp November morning during the beginning of Nebraska’s week-long rifle season. A mountain boy from Colorado, I was entirely out of my element in Western Nebraska, where I’d come to spot and stalk rutting whitetails—and hopefully kill my first buck. Pale morning light had just begun to wash the cut cornfield.
“Stay low. We’ve got to close the gap,” said Newt. “I think I see at least one buck.”
I still didn’t see anything, but I followed Newt’s lead, eating mouthfuls of dust and scraping my elbows in the process. What in the world am I doing? That thought recurred frequently as I learned to hunt as an adult. But there was no time to dwell on it. Newt led the way, and I struggled to keep up. The road had sparse cover, just small tufts of cheatgrass and several cedars spaced out sporadically. Belly-crawling felt painfully slow, but Newt stayed flat to the dirt, and so did I. Then, I paused when I saw a glimmer of movement. Deer. My heartbeat quickened.
I was nearly in range of my first buck.
I didn’t grow up in a hunting family. Neither of my parents hunt, and the same goes for most of my extended family. It’s not that they’re against it, but it’s just not something we ever did.
Most of my childhood was spent in a ski town in Colorado’s Western Slope. It was the kind of place where it wasn’t uncommon for a friend or neighbor to give you elk meat from a recent kill, but where hunting still wasn’t the most popular outdoor pursuit. So, I was vaguely familiar with hunting—and loved the delicious taste of big game meat. But learning how to hunt, myself, felt out of reach.
My dad taught me how to fish, catching trout with nightcrawlers and Powerbait at nearby lakes and reservoirs. On vacations to visit family out East, we used Texas rigs to catch largemouth bass. By the time I was in middle school, I became obsessed with it. I figured out all kinds of lure fishing before eventually picking up a fly rod.
Hunting seemed different, though. While I’d reeled my fair of trout, killing a big game animal was intimidating, in part because of the size of the animal, the difficulty of doing so—and then processing it—and simply because it wasn’t a part of my family’s culture. Still, I was intrigued by it.
I started hunting, eventually, because of work. I interned at Field & Stream and Outdoor Life before my senior year of college. After that, I freelanced for hook and bullet publications before landing full-time as Field & Stream’s news editor, where I covered everything from big bucks to record fish to pressing conservation issues.
And every day, I read articles and even occasionally wrote about hunting. I wanted to understand it to be able to write about it more proficiently. And also, I craved the interesting experiences at the heart of many of our hunting stories.
I needed to try it myself.
I started small—squirrel hunting with one of our senior editors. Then I progressed into bird hunting. I grew accustomed with using firearms and killing animals, which I hoped would prepare me for what I considered to be the most quintessential, Platonic ideal of the pursuit: deer hunting.
But I was still nervous. I fretted that killing a big game animal would exact an emotional toll I wasn’t prepared to face. Or worse: that I would wound and lose a deer. To ease my fears—and lacking a familial connection to hunting—I read stories from others about their first deer.
Many of the tales I encountered were profound in one way or another. Writers often recounted, with a heavy dose of nostalgia, the bonding moments they had with parents, siblings, or even friends. Other adult-onset hunters wrote about how it helped them work through personal grief. And others even talked about how hunting gave them deeper understandings of mortality and their relationship to nature. All of these seemed like worthy reasons to kill a deer, and I had high hopes for my own revelatory moment with my first buck.
But that wasn’t what happened.
I hunted my first deer at the invitation of Newt Borowski and Buck Martin, two media PR pros whose companies footed the bill for my trip. I was decked out in new camo, knew the bucks that were on the property with Moultrie Mobile trail cam shots, and had a beautiful Maven scope mounted to my brand-new 6.5 Creedmoor. Newt and Buck—whom I’d met for the first time in-person when I arrived in Nebraska—were my mentors. We were fast friends and enjoyed our time in the field, but did not form a deep bond. And while the hunt was memorable, it didn’t cause an especially strong emotional reaction.
We didn’t get the buck on that first stalk. But that afternoon, it came together rather smoothly. We hunted a crop corner a half mile from where we finished in the morning. A combine was harvesting the nearby field. The corner was surrounded by a row of planted cedars. We waded through standing corn to reach our spot, then set up next to one of the trees. In the CRP, a couple of young bucks were chasing a group of does. I was too slow on my first couple of opportunities. Then a three-by-three stopped broadside at 80 yards, and I pulled the trigger.
Minutes later, I reached the buck. It went down ten yards from where I hit it. I shook hands with Newt and Buck and admired the deer. I reached out and touched the antlers first, running my fingers from the sharp points down the cool vein-like ridges on the bone. The bottom portion of the antlers were dug into the dry Nebraska dirt. The full-bodied deer’s fur was ruffled from the shot, and I smoothed it with one hand while keeping my other on the antlers. I wasn’t sure how to react or what to say, so I didn’t say anything and just waited a moment. Then I stood and smiled. I felt warm despite a crisp November wind.
I soon found out that processing a deer was a lot of work, but we had fun with that, too, drinking Coors Heavy in one of Newt’s buddies’ garages. It wasn’t until later that I had time to reflect on the experiences, and truthfully, for a while, I still wasn’t sure what to think. My first deer hunt wasn’t particularly challenging or meaningful. While I felt a tinge of bittersweet emotions when I walked up to the buck, mostly I just felt a sense of accomplishment and excitement from the experience.
Looking back, it’s easy to see that some of the reading and thinking I’d done prior to the hunt had warped my expectations and led me to put too much pressure on the experience to have some kind of meaning or revelation that isn’t all that common. The reason, of course, that such moments are often retold in media, or even around a campfire, is clear: we like to read and write about the most impactful experiences because those are the interesting ones. But the reality is often far more mundane.
And that’s ok.
Sometimes hunting—even a first hunt—is just fun. Nothing more. Having had this realization allowed me to have other hunting experiences where I have had moments of profundity, though those have been few and far between. Most of the time, I’m out there in the mountain, woods, or swamp, wondering: what in the world am I doing here? Then I smile. And laugh.
I’m having fun.
Whitetail hunters love to argue about which state holds the biggest and baddest bucks. But which one is really the best?
Well, a lot of what makes hunting ground “the best” depends on your personal preferences. Do you like big bucks, and you cannot lie? Maybe you just like to hunt around fewer people. Or maybe you like to feel like a kid in a candy shop, surrounded by opportunities for deer of all ages. Do you prefer to travel or are you more of a homebody? Maybe you like to manage a food plot and be able to set up trail cams.
There is no real definitive answer for the best whitetail state, so we asked the crew what their favorites are. And ultimately, we want you to determine which state will be crowned the Best Whitetail State by voting below. Did your favorite whitetail state not get included? Sound off in the comments!
In this round, we’ve got a head-to-head matchup with the whitetail aficionados of MeatEater: Tony Peterson with North Dakota and Mark Kenyon with Michigan. Which state is better? That’s up to you to decide.
North Dakota“My favorite whitetail state is North Dakota, without question. I've hunted public land from one end to the other, and have never had a bad hunt. The trophy potential is real, but more importantly, the state just provides an opportunity to spend treestand time in some really unique settings. From eastern-hardwoods types of hunts to true western whitetail riverbottom hunts, where you might also see mulies or elk, there is a surprising amount of habitat diversity in North Dakota. It's just a fun state with a fairly consistent herd, lots of land to roam around on, and the chance at a really good one no matter where you're at." - Tony Peterson
Deer Population Estimate: 130,000Public Lands: 2.1 million acres or 5% of the state’s landAvg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 22,857Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 14,003Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 19Deer Tag Price: $35 resident, $355 nonresident
Michigan“My pick is Michigan, and the reasons might surprise you. No, Michigan is not the best state to visit if you want a slam-dunk chance at killing a giant buck. But if you want a true whitetail cultural experience, this state cannot be beat.
Opening day here is akin to a national holiday, roadside box blinds and ladder stands are more commonly seen than billboards, and the buck poles - holy wah - if you haven't been to a Michigan buck pole, you haven't quite yet lived. Not only that, but we've got a pile of deer in the state, plentiful public lands in most regions, and so many other hunters that you'll never have to fear being lonely, lost, or lacking for a deer-dragging partner. Finally, the Great Lakes state has produced some of our nation's most noted hunters. Folks like Fred Bear, Ted Nugent, John Eberhart, Andy May, and, of course, Steve Rinella and Janis Putelis! I dare you to disagree.” - Mark Kenyon
Deer Population Estimate: 2 MillionPublic Lands: 816,000 acres or about 22% of the state’s landAvg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 218,500Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 164,379Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 38Deer Tag Price: $40 resident, $190 nonresident
(Harvest data via the National Deer Association’s 2024 Deer Report.)
Note: Votes will not be counted from the comment section, so please use the voting box below to select your favorite state and ensure it advances to the next bracket!
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Whitetail hunters love to argue about which state holds the biggest and baddest bucks. But which one is really the best?
Well, a lot of what makes hunting ground “the best” depends on your personal preferences. Do you like big bucks, and you cannot lie? Maybe you just like to hunt around fewer people. Or maybe you like to feel like a kid in a candy shop, surrounded by opportunities for deer of all ages. Do you prefer to travel or are you more of a homebody? Maybe you like to manage a food plot and be able to set up trail cams.
There is no real definitive answer for the best whitetail state, so we asked the crew what their favorites are. And ultimately, we want you to determine which state will be crowned the Best Whitetail State by voting below. Did your favorite whitetail state not get included? Sound off in the comments!
In this matchup, we’ve got our favorite southern stars, Brent Reaves and Clay Newcomb. Only one (Brent) gets to represent their home state of Arkansas. Who picked the better whitetail state? You decide!
Arkansas“I love hunting my home state of Arkansas, especially going solo during archery season. My connection with hunting familiar and family land is just another element of enjoyment. During gun season, I’m usually hunting with friends and family, which adds the greatest amount of joy to an already joyous event.” - Brent Reaves
Deer Population Estimate: 1.1 MillionPublic Lands: 3,949,000 acres or 11.8% of the state’s landAvg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 94,235Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 106,113Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 30Deer Tag Price: $35 resident, $410 nonresident
Kansas“My favorite whitetail state is Kansas. Giant bucks, one buck tag per hunter, limited entry for out-of-state hunters, and conservative season dates for firearm hunters make for giant bucks and great bowhunting. This Great Plains state has incredible soils, which translate to incredible whitetails. If you live there or can get draw, you’ll probably have a great hunt.” - Clay Newcomb
Deer Population Estimate: 650,000Public Lands: 470,000 acres or 1% of the state’s landAvg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 42,423Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 38,110Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 39Deer Tag Price: $42.50 resident, $447.50 nonresident
(Harvest data via the National Deer Association’s 2024 Deer Report.)
Note: Votes will not be counted from the comment section, so please use the voting box below to select your favorite state and ensure it advances to the next bracket!
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Whitetail hunters love to argue about which state holds the biggest and baddest bucks. But which one is really the best?
Well, a lot of what makes hunting ground “the best” depends on your personal preferences. Do you like big bucks, and you cannot lie? Maybe you just like to hunt around fewer people. Or maybe you like to feel like a kid in a candy shop, surrounded by opportunities for deer of all ages. Do you prefer to travel or are you more of a homebody? Maybe you like to manage a food plot and be able to set up trail cams.
There is no real definitive answer for the best whitetail state, so we asked the crew what their favorites are. And ultimately, we want you to determine which state will be crowned the Best Whitetail State by voting below. Did your favorite whitetail state not get included? Sound off in the comments!
In this matchup, we’ve got Janis repping a classic whitetail state: Wisconsin. And Steve with the edgy pick of Alaska. Which is the better state? It’s up to you to decide.
Alaska“My pick for the best whitetail state is Alaska. A lot of guys want an easy hunt, and I understand that, but I'm a guy who likes a challenge. Whitetail hunting in Alaska kicks your ass every time. Whether you're after swamp bucks or mountain bucks, you can put years of effort in and never even see a whitetail. Believe me, I know. But I know that I'm gonna have success someday, and when I do, all that failure and effort will feel all the more sweeter.” - Steve Rinella
Public Land: About 325 million acres or 89% of the state’s landDeer Population Estimate: There isn’t exactly an established population of whitetails in Alaska, yet. If you want to learn more about whitetails in The Last Frontier, check out Mark Kenyon’s recent hunt.Deer Tag Price: Whitetail (and mule deer) are invasive in Alaska. In an attempt to learn more about these populations, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game requires hunters to salvage the entire carcass and know which parts are required for submission. However, you don’t need to purchase a permit or have a harvest ticket, and there is no bag limit.
Wisconsin“My favorite whitetail state is Wisconsin. It's got the hardcore deer culture of Michigan AND big bucks. It's also where I own deer hunting land, which I love to manage the habitat on. My connection to that 40 acres is stronger than ever. I can smell it just thinking about it. And although I grew up hunting Michigan and Wisconsin, Wisconsin is where we had our real deer camp. A deer camp is a special thing; I wouldn't be who I am today without that camp.” - Janis Putelis
Deer Population Estimate: 1.6 MillionPublic Lands: 5.6 million acres or 16% of the state’s landAvg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 153,678Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 165,389Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 27Deer Tag Price: $24 resident, $200 nonresident
(Harvest data via the National Deer Association’s 2024 Deer Report.)
Note: Votes will not be counted from the comment section, so please use the voting box below to select your favorite state and ensure it advances to the next bracket!
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Whitetail hunters love to argue about which state holds the biggest and baddest bucks. But which one is really the best?
Well, a lot of what makes hunting ground “the best” depends on your personal preferences. Do you like big bucks, and you cannot lie? Maybe you just like to hunt around fewer people. Or maybe you like to feel like a kid in a candy shop, surrounded by opportunities for deer of all ages. Do you prefer to travel or are you more of a homebody? Maybe you like to manage a food plot and be able to set up trail cams.
There is no real definitive answer for the best whitetail state, so we asked the crew what their favorites are. And ultimately, we want you to determine which state will be crowned the Best Whitetail State by voting below. Did your favorite whitetail state not get included? Sound off in the comments!
In this matchup, we’ve got the Trivia Master and previous Rut Fresh Radio Host, Spencer Neuharth repping Kentucky against Jake Hofer, your current Rut Fresh Radio Host, repping Iowa. Who chose the better state? Let us know below!
Iowa“This list wouldn’t be complete without Iowa. There’s a long line to draw an archery tag (anywhere from 3-6 years, depending on the zone), and for good reason. Strict regulations protect the resource, and the line just keeps getting longer. If you love bowhunting whitetails and having an opportunity of a mature whitetail—Iowa is the top of the list for me.” - Jake Hofer
Deer Population Estimate: 445,000Public Lands: 370,000 acres or about 1% of the state’s landAvg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 46,725Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 58,432Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 28Deer Tag Price: $33 resident, $498 nonresident
Kentucky“There are so many things to love about whitetails in Kentucky. First off, they have one of the longest deer seasons in the nation with an archery season that runs from early September to mid-January. Most of the state is one-buck only, but some wildlife refuges and military reservations allow for an additional antlered tag.
Kentucky is home to a literal million deer, which is about the same population as other premier whitetail states such as Minnesota and Ohio. And they rank 6th in whitetail Boone and Crockett entries, ahead of the whitetail meccas Texas and Kansas.
What I love most about Kentucky is the habitat, though. It's where the Midwest meets the South, with a perfect mix of agriculture and big woods. Combine that with weather that doesn't get too hot or too cold, and you've got a whitetail season that any hunter would love.” - Spencer Neuharth
Deer Population Estimate: 1 MillionPublic Lands: 899,000 acres, or about 4% of the state’s landAvg. Annual Antlered Bucks Harvest: 69,157Avg. Annual Antlerless Harvest: 38,110Bucks Harvested Per 100 Hunters: 39Deer Tag Price: $35 resident, $235 nonresident
(Harvest data via the National Deer Association’s 2024 Deer Report.)
Note: Votes will not be counted from the comment section, so please use the voting box below to select your favorite state and ensure it advances to the next bracket!
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I spent quite a bit of my career as mostly an outdoor writer, before filming hunts and recording podcasts took over. That early role taught me how to use weasel words like a champion. Actually, it was reader responses that taught me to cover my ass with generalizations.
What happens when you write hunting articles, even benign hunting articles you assume won’t piss people off, is that you end up pissing people off anyway. So, you start to think about how to say something you want to say, but also add in a qualifier or two to head off the rage.
For example, I might want to say something about the October Lull, like I don’t really believe it’s a good enough excuse to not hunt. A lot of hunters would disagree, so I’d follow it up with a statement about how it also might be prudent to sit out mid-October to wait for the pre-rut in certain situations, for certain hunters.
This default communication style exists all over the hunting space, and really all spaces where opinions are offered to the masses, but there is one category I’m sick of glossing over—the one involving how difficult hunting for whitetails is.
Now, I know that it’s generally regarded that public land whitetails are more difficult to kill than private land deer, but no one really dives into why (beyond the increased deer hunting pressure aspect). The truth is, killing a deer where anyone can hunt is as difficult as it will get for any of us, but maybe not for the most obvious reasons.
Laws, Rules & Regs When I set up a stand on some of my private parcels, I go through a pretty standard process. I’ll hang the set, screw in a bow hanger, cut an access trail and maybe some shooting lanes, and then leave it alone to settle down before I return. In a lot of cases, I’ll leave a cell camera to feed me real-time deer data.
Almost everything I did there, which is totally legal on most private land in most states, could be illegal on public. You want to use a screw-in bow hanger? Probably not. Cut a few shooting lanes? Nope. In many cases, leaving that cell camera is a no-no, too. Now, this all depends on your chosen state, and then the type of land you’re on, but there is no doubt that public land hunting is far more restrictive in general than private land hunts.
This is what I think about a lot when people argue that some of the biggest names in deer hunting would do just as well leaving their managed properties for a public land hunt. I doubt that very much, and it wouldn’t just be because they can’t curate a spot to bring the deer to them. It would be all of the little details that they never think about when setting up their stands or blinds that come into play. Going from private land to public is often a real shock to hunters, and it goes way beyond the limitations on stand and blind setups.
The Deer Actually Are DifferentSeveral years ago I had a conversation with one of the biggest names in deer hunting, and he mentioned that the bucks on his farm actually start to daylight more as they get older. He admitted he didn’t know why. He just knew that it was true.
I don’t know why either, because I can’t read a deer’s mind, but my guess is that the deer on his place have no negative interactions moving in daylight for most of their lives. If they stay where the herd is being managed to produce big deer, no one is going to shoot at them when they are under at least 4.5 years old. Prey animals that feel safe, act like prey animals that feel safe.
Now, look at this a different way. What if instead of walking past hunters who don’t shoot at them, ever, they walk past hunters who almost always shoot at them (or try to shoot at them, anyway). And instead of a couple of neutral hunter encounters per season, the deer have dozens of negative encounters.
This isn’t universally true, and it is anecdotal, but almost every older deer (bucks and does) I’ve killed on public and pressured private, has shown evidence of wounds. A lot of them have had some type of arrow or bullet wound, to the point where it doesn’t surprise me much to find them. That doesn’t really prove anything, but I’m going to use it to illustrate my point about public land deer being more difficult to kill than private land deer, anyway.
Pattern, What Pattern? A few years ago, I walked into a cattail slough with my muzzleloader in western Minnesota. My goal was to find any buck, and the day before, I’d glassed a couple of them heading into the slough to bed for the day.
As I crested a small rise over the slough, the first thing I saw was a doe. She stood still for a second, and then bolted through the cattails and scattered willows, but not away from me. A minute or two later, I saw the blaze orange vest of a pheasant hunter slowly moving through the cover.
I let him hunt his way through and then settled in with lower hopes than I had when I left the truck. The bucks, predictably, didn’t show up. If I had walked in a few minutes later, I might not have known why. This is the thing about public land: you aren’t just working against other deer hunters.
Anyone can come in and hunt small game, or fall turkeys, or do whatever. The presence of a pheasant hunter in a slough might not affect deer like a deer hunter would, but it doesn’t help. The impact will be negative, most likely. If you doubt that, go knock on the door of a devout trophy deer hunter and ask for permission to squirrel hunt his woods in October.
All of this activity is a deer-pattern killer. You think you found something worth hunting, but the pattern dies before you even spend an hour in the stand. It might be from you, or from a new crossbow hunter determined to walk one down who passed through an hour before you showed up. The randomness of it all, and the generally negative aspects of human presence, make public land so much more difficult than private.
These are just some of the reasons I feel like public land bucks are the ultimate deer hunting trophy. I know a lot of folks will disagree, but most of them won’t go prove me wrong on dirt that anyone can hunt. I think that says something…
Southeast Ohio’s deer population is experiencing a serious epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) outbreak, forcing wildlife managers to consider adjusting hunting regulations before the state’s rifle season opens.
EHD is a virus transmitted by biting flies such as no-see-ums. Deer killed by the disease are typically found near water after experiencing high fever and dehydration.
Historically, the virus has been found in parts of the Southeast U.S., where whitetails typically have antibodies that limit the severity of EHD outbreaks. However, according to the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab, “in recent years, this virus has been moving northward, potentially due to impacts of climate change.” In those locales, EHD has the potential to more severely impact deer herds which have no natural resistance to the disease.
This summer, one such outbreak has occurred in southeast Ohio. As of September 23, there have been over 8,000 reports of sick or dead deer in the state, with the majority coming from Athens, Meigs, and Washington counties.
“I’ve been in this position for over a decade, and I haven’t seen an outbreak like this in that time,” Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) deer biologist Clint McCoy told The Athens Messenger. “I’d venture to say that it’s probably the worst outbreak we’ve seen in Ohio’s history.”
The severity of the outbreak has prompted ODNR wildlife managers to propose a last-minute adjustment to the hunting regs in Athens, Meigs, and Washington counties. The agency is suggesting cutting the season bag limit in those counties from three to two deer per hunter. If approved, the regulation change would take effect on December 1, which coincides with the start of rifle season.
According to the Athens County Independent, local hunters and landowners “all expressed support for the Division of Wildlife’s proposed rule change,” at a recent public meeting. “These deer need pretty much any break we can give them,” said one resident.
In fact, some people in the community are calling for even further restrictions. A petition written by Victoria Maze of Washington County is calling for “canceling or postponing the 2025 deer season in the worst-affected counties,” or, in lieu of that, even greater bag limit reductions. Several hunters voiced their support for the petition.
“I am a licensed Athens County hunter and property owner. I have never witnessed EHD kill as catastrophic as what is happening in Athens County and Washington County,” wrote Ryan, a resident of Parkersburg, on the petition website. “Due to the decimation of the deer herd in our local area, I fully support closing all deer hunting seasons this year in select areas for the betterment of the herd in the future.”
In a blog post, Kip Adams, Chief Conservation Officer for the National Deer Association, explains that “since [EHD] is spread by insects, there is little we can do to prevent it and outbreaks will end with the onset of cold weather.”
“Since outbreaks are generally localized and mortality occurs during summer, the best thing to do from a personal or property-specific deer management perspective is adjust antlerless harvest rates that fall, if necessary,” he adds. “It’s important to note that humans are not at risk by handling infected deer, eating venison from infected deer, or being bitten by infected midges. Fortunately, our dogs and cats are not at risk either.”
The ODNR is accepting public comments on its recent proposal online until October 16. The agency will also hold a public hearing at an ODNR wildlife council meeting on Wednesday, October 22.
Like most whitetail hunters, I learned to hunt with company. For me, it was my dad, his brothers, and a few of their buddies. Swapping stories around a campfire, ribbing each other about misses, backslapping over notched tags, and arguing about where the deer are moving have always been part of deer-hunting culture, but if you always have someone in the next stand over, you’re missing out on a different side of the game.
Hunting alone changes the way you move and make decisions. There’s no one to bounce ideas off. You have to look harder for sign. And when you finally get a deer on the ground, the long haul back to the truck is all up to you. But the flip side is, you don’t have to compromise on where to sit or when to move. You can slip through the woods quietly, leave less scent, and stay more flexible.
One of my favorite bucks came from a solo hunt. I slipped into the woods alone when it was still dark, made the shot just as the world was turning gray, and reached for my phone only to realize I didn’t have a single bar of service. There were no bragging texts, no calls for help, just me, that buck, and a golden sunrise weaving its way through the trees. I sat there in the quiet for a few minutes before pulling out my knife and getting to work. I’ll never forget how good that felt. Deeply satisfying, and all mine.
That push toward self-reliance sharpens everything. Hunting solo forces you to read the woods, and those lessons carry over into every season, whether you’re hunting with a few buddies or on your own.
Planning a Solo HuntPlanning matters more than ever when you head into the woods alone. There’s no buddy to help if you get turned around, twist an ankle, or tag a deer. While I like to keep my honey holes private, I always tell a family member where I plan to hunt, how I’m going to get in, and when I expect to be back at the truck. If something goes wrong and I don’t check in, at least they’ll know where to start looking.
Good planning also means thinking through access. When you’re by yourself, you need routes that get you in clean and give you a realistic way to get a deer out. Sometimes that means hunting closer to the road than you’d prefer. Sometimes it means knowing where the ridge is less steep so you can drag a buck out without wrecking yourself in the process.
Digital tools make this easier. Mapping apps, like onX, let you mark stand locations, track entry routes, and drop pins. You can even share them with someone you trust to keep your spots quiet but accessible if you don’t check in.
While technology is awesome, it isn’t an excuse to totally ditch the old-school stuff. I still keep a paper map and a compass in my pack, because batteries die, screens freeze, and cell service can be spotty where I hunt. Toting all of that may seem redundant, but I like to think of it as insurance.
Making Decisions on Your OwnWhen you’re hunting with a buddy, there’s always some back-and-forth in both the planning and execution process. Hunting alone takes all of that chatter out of the equation. Every single call is yours alone, for better or worse.
That can feel like some serious pressure, but it’s also pretty liberating. It allows you the space to trust your gut and move (or not move) without debate. If the wind shifts or you come across some fresh tracks, you can simply pick and reset. Deer hunting is full of opportunities for quick choices, and going it alone speeds up the decision-making process.
It’s also easy to sink into analysis paralysis. It’s easy to start second-guessing yourself when you don’t have a buddy to confirm or debate your plan. Deer hunters make mistakes all the time, and it can sting to screw up a good hunt, especially when there’s no one to blame but yourself. However, if you lean into the basics, like wind direction and prime deer movement times, you are less likely to make big blunders.
If you never make mistakes, you’re far less likely to learn. And at the end of the day, the woods are a better teacher than any hunting buddy. Every decision you make solo, good or bad, sticks with you. And those lessons pile up faster when you’re the only one calling the shots.
Safety Must-Haves When Hunting SoloHunting by yourself means you don’t have the safety net of your partner’s gear. If you forget a knife or (heaven forbid) toilet paper, you can’t just borrow some from your buddy’s backpack. That makes it worth checking and rechecking your kit before you hit the woods.
At the top of the list is communication. You’ll need a way to call for help if something goes south. A cell phone is easy, but only if you have service, and there is plenty of prime deer-hunting real estate in dead zones. A satellite messenger like a Garmin inReach, SpotX, or Zoleo is worth the investment if you hunt remote spots. Even if you never hit the SOS button, being able to send a check-in text keeps people from worrying. Plus, knowing you can call for help at any time provides some serious peace of mind.
A well-stocked first aid kit is also a smart move. It should have at least enough to treat basic cuts, blisters, and sprains—enough to keep you moving long enough to get back to the truck. Toss in a tourniquet if you know how to use it. One bad slip with a broadhead or knife can turn serious fast. That’s when a tourniquet could save your life.
Add a headlamp (and a backup), fire starter, space blanket, snacks, and water, and you’re prepared for almost anything the woods could throw your way. You don’t need to pack like a TV survivalist, but one bad fall can turn a routine sit into a long, cold night.
When it comes to deer recovery, solo hunters have to think ahead. A drag rope, sled, or deer cart can save your back and shave hours off a pack-out. If you’ve ever hauled a buck out by hand for a mile, you know it’s no joke. I once dragged a buck half a mile uphill before I finally bought a sled, and I’ve never gone back.
Big-bodied bucks may be too much to move whole, especially if you’re hunting deep. In that case, quartering is the smart play. Clean game bags will keep your meat safe on multiple trips.
Navigation is another must. Apps like onX are great, but you should always have a backup compass and paper map. Phones die. Electronics fail. You don’t want to realize that when it’s already dark and you’re three ridges from the truck.
None of this is flashy. But it can be the difference between a solo hunt that’s tough in a good way and one that goes sideways fast. Pack smart, double up on the essentials, and you’ll stack the odds in your favor.
Final ThoughtsHunting alone isn’t about trying to prove you’re some sort of backwoods badass. Instead, it gives you the chance to slow down, pay attention, and take full responsibility for your hunt. With some practice, you’ll learn to notice more sign, catch more shifts in the wind, and trust your gut without the input of a buddy.
Dragging a buck out all by yourself can flat-out suck, and you’ll probably cuss your way through more than a few mistakes. But you’ll come out on the other side a better deer hunter. And the next time you and your buddies are swapping stories around a tailgate, you’ll know you’ve got the skills to get it done, whether anyone’s around or not.
Late last month, I pulled up to a field site at first light to start a long day of turkey habitat surveys. My work as a wildlife research technician takes me to both public and private land, but this site happened to be on one of my favorite wildlife areas: a lakeside section with forested draws and fields of native tallgrass.
I slowed my truck to a crawl so I could scan the fields for a reddish-brown back or a tail flicking. I usually spot a doe or two out feeding when I get there early–but that time, I saw tines. Enormous tines. He raised his head, and I locked eyes with the biggest mainframe eight I had ever seen on huntable public ground.
The dog days of summer bring unique resource requirements for a whitetail buck, and a brief window to dial in on them for early-season success. No doubt there were a few unknowable reasons why the buck I saw was standing exactly where he stood that morning. But, the basic advantages of the location he chose were obvious, and a perfect example of what to look for while preparing for opening day.
The first thing to consider relates to exactly what that buck was doing when I spotted him: feeding.
Summertime SnacksA huge part of the whitetail industry revolves around nutrition. It’s nearly impossible to get through preseason preparations without hearing something about food plots, feeders, and minerals. However, supplemental feeding is intended to be just that–supplemental to a whitetail's natural diet.
When searching for a hotspot of daytime buck activity, natural food sources are a great place to begin. Late-summer bucks are entering the final stages of antler development and will soon transition to packing on pounds by late September in preparation for the rut. All of that growth makes protein a key nutrient in the early season, so protein-rich forage is a magnet for whitetail activity.
This includes widespread forbs such as tick-trefoils, ragweeds, and goldenrods, which thrive along hard transitions and within healthy grasslands–like the one that big eight was grazing in. These native food sources are extra valuable where high-protein crops, such as soybeans and alfalfa, are scarce. Even in a row-crop heavy area, a secluded patch of forbs is still favorable for all-day use by a wary whitetail.
Soft masts are also a high-value food source for deer in the heat of summer, offering a refreshing punch of sugars and vitamins. Pokeweed, persimmon, and wild grapes are a few common soft mast producers that are highly attractive to whitetails. Their fruits ripen between late summer and early fall, making them ideal to locate for both preseason scouting and early-season hunting. Shrublands, soft transitions, and open-canopy forests are all good places to find pockets of primetime berries that are likely to draw predictable deer movement.
Succulent forbs and soft masts are also a significant source of hydration in a whitetail’s summer diet, but not enough to survive on. To make it through the hottest days of the year, even trophy bucks need some plain old water.
Hydration StationsRemember where that big eight was standing? In a field full of goldenrod goodness, sure. But also within spitting distance of a quiet lakeshore. Preseason into early season is often the hottest and driest time of year, and the metabolic demands within a buck’s body only increase as the rut draws closer. During this time of intense need and scarcity, a savvy whitetail will not stray far from a reliable source of life’s most essential nutrient.
E-scouting with an app such as onX Hunt is the best place to start pinpointing possible ambush locations over water. Isolated ponds, secluded coves on lakes and reservoirs, and low-water crossings on large creeks and rivers are prime spots to investigate. But not all of these water sources are created equal in the eyes of a whitetail.
Location and context within the broader landscape are key to determining whether a water hole is worth the investment of a trail camera or tree stand. A stock pond on a walk-in property might hold the most dependable water for miles around, but if it sits within a thousand acres of overgrazed cattle pasture, it’s unlikely to offer workable deer activity.
Like any other resource, a water hole has to offer the right cover for a buck to feel comfortable slipping in for a few sips during shooting light.
Concealment and a Cool BreezeThere are a lot of variables when it comes to whitetail bedding behavior, but one of the biggest is temperature. Heat stress not only pressures deer to bed closer to water, but also influences the type of cover they prefer to bed in. The late-season strategy of targeting south-facing slopes for deer looking to curl up in the morning sun is not a winner for early September, when the sun is still an oppressive force in whitetail country.
The objective for an early-season buck is to stay cool and concealed, which means the right balance of visual cover, shade, and good ventilation. Dense forest understories can look like the perfect place for a deer to hide from the outside. But step into the jungle, and you’ll find an unpleasant combination of high humidity and stagnant air. Bucks looking for summer thermal cover typically gravitate to grass-dominant swales, creek bottoms, and shrublands instead, where they can hunker down in the shade and still catch a cool breeze.
Find some cozy summer bedding close to good food and water, and you might be in for a spicy September opener.
Other than the rut, I can’t think of a more exciting time of deer season than opening day. Aspirations are high. Weather patterns start to turn. Those bucks you’ve cleverly nicknamed are still stuck on their patterns and sporting more headgear than your favorite football team.
If opening day dreams always unfolded according to plan, there’d be a lot fewer mature bucks on the landscape. Unless you have a tightly manicured hunting situation, your odds of killing a mature buck on Oct 1 aren’t exactly in your favor. This is especially true if your opening day involves public land, where you’re likely to encounter as many trucks as a Best Buy parking lot on Black Friday. Not to mention, you’ll likely deal with those fickle early-season winds if the warm weather overstays its welcome. Instead of throwing in the towel or hoping for the best, here are a few ways to salvage your opening day plans.
Plan B, C, or DBig bucks have humbled plenty a hunter, and they can give you tunnel vision if you’re not careful. That’s why it’s a good idea to have a few backup spots on deck just in case your plans go awry come opening day. You might have a perfect game plan in August when that big buck shows his face every day in front of your camera. Of course, changing weather, food sources, and other hunters can quickly derail those plans by the time October arrives.
Instead of banking on one spot, have at least three backup spots you can hunt if you don’t get the right wind or someone’s parked at the gate. It’s much easier to have a few spots you can immediately hunt instead of trying to throw a plan together while you drive around.
Road MapEven if you didn’t prepare for backup spots, you can still salvage your hunt and gather some useful intel. Let’s say you hit snooze one too many times and now all the “good” spots are taken. Instead of calling it quits, drive around and make note of where you see other trucks and drop pins. This will give you a good visual representation of all the places that get hammered. Of course, you can’t know exactly where folks hunt just based on their parking spot, but you will find the spots that get overlooked. You can make note of these spots or even scout your way through them.
You can also use this strategy throughout the season as the pressure heats up and the deer shift their patterns in response. Think of these spots as natural funnels away from pressure. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken this approach and been pleasantly surprised by the amount of deer I observed during shooting hours, even in highly pressured areas.
Scout with Your Bow in HandI used to sulk whenever I had to pivot away from spot-A. Now, I see it as an opportunity to hunt another location or even scout a new piece I’ve had on my radar. While I wouldn’t quite call it still-hunting, I’ll scout through new areas with my bow in hand whenever I have to pivot from a hunt.
Instead of committing to a random spot, you’re better off scouting through an area to catch deer traveling or finding intel for a later hunt. Last year, I decided to sleep in and scout a new spot. On my way into this area, I watched multiple does feed through just out of bow range, and I even came to full draw on a buck that nearly ran me over. The encounters were encouraging (and cool), but also gave me another reliable spot to keep in my back pocket.
If you decide to scout through an area, do it with your bow in hand. You don’t have to approach it like a still-hunt if your main goal is intel, but I would suggest knocking an arrow once the deer sign ticks up. Pay attention to the wind. If you’re scouting a promising spot, there’s no need to blow your scent to the deer. You can travel with the wind in your face, but I tend to see more deer scouting or still-hunting with a crosswind, especially bucks.
Just Get Out ThereSometimes things work out for the best when they don’t go according to plan. This is especially true of deer hunting. Even if you think of calling it quits, just try something new. You definitely won’t kill a deer from your couch.
The hunting industry is chock-full of good advice. From bed hunting strategies and how to read mature buck sign, to adopting a mobile mindset to surprise a deer in its core range, there is no shortage of content that can teach you how to get better at the whitetail game.
There is also a lot of content designed to get you to buy something, and I know this well, because I’ve created a ton of it. While buying the latest deer call or decoy can certainly help you put a buck on the ground, there are a few decisions I’ve made in my life that have undoubtedly helped me fill more tags than anything you can order online, and they might help you as well.
Off The Sauce I took my first drink when I was 13, and my last when I was 32. The years in between, I took a lot of drinks. Too many, according to almost anyone who knew me then, and also according to my liver. Functioning alcoholism is rampant in our society, and it got me good.
The arrival of two babies at the same time finally gave me a reason to face who I really was, and while I wouldn’t say quitting drinking was easy, I will say that it was the best decision I’ve ever made. I had no idea how much it affected my life, and how much of an influence it had on my hunting.
Now, killing more deer is a poor reason to quit drinking, but I couldn’t help but notice how different my hunts went after I got off the sauce. I slept better, which was a huge benefit at home, but a game-changer on the road. I had more energy to scout, hang sets, and sit longer. I also didn’t feel like shit when I got into my morning stands, which meant I could focus more on the task at hand. It was like a new world opened up for me, and in that world, I was a better hunter who enjoyed my time in the field even more.
A Physical Reality CheckIn the last couple of weeks, I’ve ridden around more on side-by-sides to do deer and bear work than I have in my entire life. I’ll admit, it’s pretty sweet. I get the appeal of not burning too many calories to hunt, but I also know that when I quit drinking and started working out, the whitetails suddenly found themselves in more danger around me.
I realize the fitness craze in hunting makes a lot of us want to puke, and I get it. I also know that when I quit drinking, I thought I was in good shape because I’m a man with an ego big enough to overshadow reality.
Trying to run a 5k after nearly two decades of professional alcoholism showed me what I really was, and it was not pretty. Getting into the habit of working out was way harder than getting off the sauce, but it has been a huge benefit to my hunting success. The physical aspect of hunting is what you make it, but even with whitetails, there is a real benefit to being in better shape.
Think about the appeal of hanging stands, or setting blinds, or getting up for the fourth morning in a row to sit all day. Where do you land on that stuff? A lot of your feelings toward them probably stem from how fit you are. I know they did for me, and I can safely say the second-best decision I ever made that helped me be a better deer hunter was to swallow my pride and force myself to go to the gym. I know that sucks, but it’ll help you kill more big deer than literally any product you can buy.
Baby Makers This is going to seem crazy to a lot of readers out there, but having kids made me a better hunter. I’m not saying that you should ditch the birth control in an attempt to kill booners, but instead to say that having my time suddenly not being mine anymore forced me to be so much more efficient.
Like a lot of soon-to-be fathers, I thought when my wife got pregnant with our girls that my time in the woods would disappear. It didn’t, it just became condensed. The first trip I took out of state after the girls were born involved only four days in North Dakota on public land. It felt like a scramble, but also a very targeted mission.
I hit a point where I accepted that I didn’t have enough time and I’d eat my nonresident tag, but with 15 minutes left in the trip, a two-year-old eight-pointer followed the script. It was a watershed moment for me because I realized that I could still do the thing I loved the most and be successful at it. I just needed to understand my new limitations and how to use my time wisely because I didn’t have much of it, and I suddenly didn’t want to be away from home for any longer than I needed to be.
Quitting drinking, working out, and using a family expansion pack aren’t typical routes to leveling up as a hunter, but they worked for me. There’s a lesson in all of them, and I hope, for all of us who love the deer game enough to want to get better.
Sometimes the biggest hurdles in the woods aren’t other hunters or natural predators but ourselves. That’s right, the thing keeping you from leveling up in the deer woods is probably yourself.
I hate to admit it, but I’ve screwed up more hunts for myself than other folks or coyotes have. In my earlier years of hunting, a lot of those mistakes stemmed from bad habits like hunting historical spots or trying to outwork the competition, only to run myself into the ground.
If you’re not careful, you can backslide into those same habits (and results). Whether you want to end a bad streak or find more success in the deer woods, here are a few bad habits you should drop.
Hunting the Same SpotsNostalgia is a powerful thing, and it’s probably cost you more deer than you realize. It can be tempting to try and recreate the magic of a fabled treestand or honey-hole, but once the habitat or hunting situation changes, those places can dry up.
Instead of hoping for a long-awaited sequel, try scouting new spots. These new spots could be miles away, or you might find that you just need to shift your focus a few hundred yards. Regardless, you can’t keep doing the same thing and expect to achieve different results. That method is a sure way to land you in whitetail purgatory (at your own doing).
Walking Past Good Deer SignWhile hunting the same spot over and over might give you the best recipe for tag soup, you can also walk (and talk) yourself out of a good spot. Mobile hunting, for all the opportunity it’s created, has also bred the misconception that all the good hunting spots lie miles from the trailhead or parking lot. This isn’t always the case.
Sure, you might not want to hunt that food plot in spitting distance of the parking lot, but there are other overlooked spots that might be within easy walking distance. Before the folks built a house on the neighboring property, one of the best deer trails on my family’s property happened to cross the county road. Before it dried up, my dad, grandfather, and I would hunt that spot where piles of does and occasionally a good buck would cross well before shooting hours ended. Sure, it felt a little weird watching all the cars go by, but the deer didn’t mind it, and it made for an easy drag out.
This approach doesn’t just apply to private land either. Last year, one of my hunting buddies shot a great buck within sight of his truck. He watched multiple small game hunters walk into that management area that evening, too. Prior to killing that buck, he found a ton of fresh droppings and tracks, so he hung a camera and got a few photos of that buck daylighting there. He killed that buck on his first sit. That’s a great lesson in letting the sign tell you what the deer are doing, instead of overcomplicating deer hunting.
Listening to the “Experts”I recognize the irony in this point, as someone who is attempting to give hunting advice. However, we live in an information overload, where hunting tactics, videos, and utter nonsense fill our ears and feed. It can be hard to separate the truth from the BS, and that especially applies to hunting.
There are tons of great resources out there for hunters, but like anything, a healthy dose of skepticism can help you determine what’s useful from what’s useless. In a recent interview with MeatEater’s Tony Peterson, he elaborated on this point and noted that most of the information or industry “secrets” peddled out there comes from hunters in privileged positions. That’s not an indictment against those hunters, but a lot of the time, that “expert” advice comes across as tone deaf to the average hunter bumping elbows on public land.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t indulge in hunting content and tips and tactics, or that they aren’t useful. However, you should spend even more time figuring out what works best for your own hunting situations.
Relying on Cameras Too MuchIf you’ve dabbled in trail cameras at all, then you’ve probably fallen prey to this trap (I know I have). Every year, I have buddies send me trail camera photos of bucks. Great bucks. I can count on one hand how many of those bucks my buddies killed, and I’d still have a few fingers to spare.
Most folks see those photos and assume that if they sit in point A, the buck will show at point B, and that’ll be all she wrote. However, those folks usually neglect to interpret that piece of information in a way that is useful. They see it as the whole story when it’s only a small piece of the puzzle.
Instead of making a ton of assumptions, try to ask more questions when you get a picture of a big buck. Which way was the wind blowing? Can you go find his tracks to see how he entered and exited that spot? Were there other deer around? These are just a few of the variables that you should consider. Just because you get hard evidence via a photo doesn’t mean you should take it at face value.
ChangesUnless you want the same results, you’ll have to make some changes to your deer hunting strategy. Even if you don’t, you can bet the woods—and the deer—will.
Big rubs and community scrapes get all the attention when it comes to deer sign, and I get it. They’re cool, and in some way, they’re a good indicator that you’re on the right scouting path. However, they can be misleading if you misinterpret the surrounding clues or landscape. On the other hand, deer tracks don’t quite get the love they deserve. They might not be as exciting as other sign, but they can tell you a lot more than a pawed-out spot in the leaves might.
I know successful hunters who pay little attention to rubs and scrapes. They make note of them, but they’re not hunting over them or making a game plan around rubs and scrapes. However, they hold big buck tracks in high esteem. Why? Because they can give you more precise details about a specific buck or an approximate class of deer.
They’re also more likely to point you in the right direction, whereas other deer sign or land features might serve as a red herring. In other words, tracks might be your best clues when it comes to hunting a big buck. Even if you aren’t tracking a buck through the snow, here are a few reasons why you should pay more attention to deer tracks.
Where to LookField edges, creek crossings, freshly pawed scrapes, and even ditches are great places to look for big deer tracks. Depending on where you find a set of tracks, you might be closer to the X than you think. Field edge tracks might not tell you more than you already know, unless you’re scouting for opening day. However, a pair of tracks at a specific creek crossing might clue you into a buck’s travel route, depending on its proximity to bedding.
Tracks in the ditch or close to roads can go either way. For instance, if you locate a crossing next to a road, you’re likely dealing with nighttime activity, though this isn’t always the case. Instead of making that assumption, you can hang a trail camera or throw an observation sit at that overlooked spot to see how it pans out.
My dad and I once hunted a lease where one of his buddies killed a good buck within a hundred yards of that club’s dirt road. He cut a set of tracks where that buck paralleled the dirt road and crossed on an old two-track, so he hung a camera and got pics of that deer crossing that very spot. One Saturday, he ended up killing that buck at 8:30 in the morning. There wasn’t a rub within a few hundred yards of that spot.
Follow the TracksLike most deer sign, treat deer tracks as a starting point. It’s not enough to find a big one and call it a day. Consider the landscape and why that deer traveled through this specific spot. Was he headed to food? Leaving bedding? Does this specific spot offer screening cover for daytime travel? Does the direction of the track tell you anything about how the deer might have been using his nose or his eyes to navigate the landscape?
These are all questions you’ll want to consider as you try to interpret deer sign and formulate a plan for hunting. This rationalization is what separates most successful hunters from everyone else. Most people can find deer sign. Few hunters interpret it in a way that leads to a punched tag.
Use Your CamerasIf you’re running trail cameras, especially cell cams, try to think outside the box when it comes to patterning deer. For instance, if you get a picture of a good buck at a creek crossing or scrape, do your best to go look in that spot for that deer’s track. Yes, you’ll have to make an educated guess at which track belongs to that buck, but if he’s in a tier of his own, that shouldn’t be hard.
Once you snap a picture of that deer’s track, you can backtrack it to where you think that deer travels. That way, if you come across that track again, you can confirm whether or not your hypothesis checks out. If you spot that track coming and going from a bedding area, I’d say you have a pretty good idea of that buck’s travel. That intel will also come in handy if you’re scouting in the same area and happen to stumble upon that track again. Tracks can give you more pieces of the puzzle than most hunters realize.
Big Deer Make Big TracksIt’s that simple. Big tracks don’t necessarily translate to antler inches, but I’ve never seen a small deer make big tracks. The term “big” is relative, of course. Deer down South run a lot smaller than their northern counterparts, so a big track in Mississippi looks different from one in Wisconsin. When you see a splayed (walking) track that spans the width of your fingers, you should get excited, no matter where you hunt.
Ever considered your career choice based on hunting seasons? You’re likely not the first. In fact, a lot of serious hunters will admit that their career choices revolved around hunting. After all, if you have to work, why not do something that allows you to hit the woods as much as you want? You could brave the content creator waters and try to make a living through YouTube, but that route has become oversaturated and highly predictable.
If your sole purpose is to spend more time hunting, consider jobs that give you the flexibility to do just that. Surprisingly, most of those careers aren’t even outdoors-related. So, if you’re thinking you want to become a game warden or wildlife biologist so that you can spend more time outdoors, you can definitely do that. Just know that time won’t be spent hunting.
Luckily, there are plenty of career options that allow you to hunt more than one day per week. Some seasonal-type jobs might give you a whole season’s worth of downtime, while others can give you an extra few days per week to get outdoors. Here are a few ways you can make a living and spend as much time on the stand as possible.
Self-EmploymentThe best way to control your own schedule is to control your own schedule. Self-employment (for the most part) allows you to do this. Whether you’re a freelance writer, photographer, realtor, or you start your own business like FHF Gear Founder Paul Lewis, you can often spend more time in the woods than the average Joe. Freelance gigs will probably give you the most flexibility, while other careers, like realty, will give you a reasonable amount of wiggle room when it comes to your work schedule.
Of course, being your own boss comes with challenges. Running your own business requires putting in a ton of hours. W9 employees also can face volatility depending on the market they work in. As someone who regularly freelances, I can tell you that nothing’s guaranteed, and your work can dry up overnight. When companies or clients have to make budget cuts, freelancers are the first to hit the chopping block. But if you can manage your time and money well, you should love the freedom that comes with working for yourself.
NurseIf you thrive on a structured work schedule, a profession like nursing can give you that and ample time to hunt. Nurses typically work some type of shift schedule, whether that means seven days on/seven days off or a 3/4 split. Either way, nurses have consistent extended time off. Not to mention, you can make a good living as a nurse, especially if you consider travel nursing. For instance, I have a good friend who is a travel nurse, and she made just over $80k. She also had a ton of time to travel for her own enjoyment during those off days.
Of course, those shifts come with long hours, sometimes without any substantial breaks. I know several nurses who work some of those longer night shifts that require a day to recoup. A lot of nurses also experience burnout because of the demanding work and long hours. Still, if you don’t mind the hours or the missed meals, you should have plenty of time to hunt between shifts.
Work From HomeOne positive aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic is the work-from-home trend. Many tech, marketing, and media companies offer remote work for their employees, making it easy to work from anywhere, including the woods.
Sure, you might not be able to do much more than answer emails on the stand, but working from a laptop in the back of your truck or a hotel means you can manage your workload while traveling to hunt. At the least, you can manipulate your work schedule around legal shooting hours. Or, if you hunt close to home, you should have the flexibility to slip out for morning and evening sits. And if you happen to land a gig in the hunting industry, then you’ll likely be encouraged to hunt. As long as you get your work done, your boss will understand why you need to take off opening day.
A lot of these companies also boast generous or unlimited PTO, though you’ll still need to have your time off approved. But like freelancing, you won’t have much job security. Tech and media companies will make widespread cuts to “restructure” their budgets whenever things get squirrely. So don’t be surprised when the VP of the company wants to have a random Slack meeting with you at 10 am on a Tuesday, just a week after you convinced your wife to quit her job. Not that I speak from experience.
Community College InstructorThis one probably applies more to southern hunters than anyone else, but academia can provide a ton of hunting opportunities for folks in the Gulf states. I was pleasantly surprised in my freshman year of college when I had almost six weeks off during Christmas break. Where I live in Mississippi, that time coincides with all phases of the rut. I had my best season to date that year, and I notched all three of my buck tags. I hunted so many days I think my dad started to get jealous, so he burned a few weeks of vacation to join me. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons I decided to pursue a Master’s degree in English.
You won’t build a fortune in education, and there’s not a ton of flexibility outside of the liberal time off and holidays, but the benefits and extended breaks make it worth it for most. In fact, many colleges and universities don’t even offer classes on Fridays. As long as your department chair doesn’t add a meeting to that day, you’ll have a three-day weekend. When you consider the month-long Christmas break, three months off during the summer, and all the holidays in between, it certainly sweetens the deal.
Trail cameras don’t always take pictures of that nice buck that’s on your hit list for this fall. In fact, sometimes they can capture strange and downright funny moments in the woods when no one is looking.
So we want to see the most hilarious frames your trail camera has snapped. You can upload them right here in the comment section or email them to radio@themeateater.com. To view the official rules of the contest, click here.
The winning photo will be debated and ultimately chosen on MeatEater Radio Live on June 26 by judges Janis Putelis, Brody Henderson, and Seth Morris.
The winner will receive two Edge 2 First Lite Specter Camo Edition Moultrie Cameras with 10W Solar Power Pack Bundles, a $250 gift card to the MeatEater Store, a $250 gift card to First Lite, and a MeatEater Edition Sawtooth Slicer from Montana Knife Company.
Now, we know from our inbox that plenty of people seem to venture in the woods in the nude (for whatever reason). But let’s keep this contest PG-13. Please blur out anything that would make you explain the birds and the bees to young eyes.
I used to give whitetails a lot more credit than they probably deserve. This led me to be a little neurotic, and often, plan my summer stand-hanging missions during rainstorms. The logic was pretty simple, really. I figured that the rain would cover up my intrusion, and more importantly, wash away all of my scent.
That may have been true, I don't really know. What I do know is that heading to the woods during summer rain showers kept producing sightings and encounters in places I didn’t expect.
Then it all kind of clicked.
We often time our trips to the woods when the weather is as favorable as we are going to get in a 10-day forecast, at least if it jives with some available free time. This kind of mirrors a lot of us and our rut-hunting habits, where we are more prone to going to the woods when it’s supposed to be cold and crispy outside than 75 degrees and dead calm.
The thing is, deer live in the outdoors and react to weather all year long. If you hunt private land that is managed well, you might be in a position to only hunt when things line up perfectly. The rest of us should learn to hunt in all types of conditions. This should start right now with our scouting trips and trail camera work.
Full FrontalGame animals move before weather fronts hit, and after. This is no secret, but where they move might be. If you spend a little time glassing for bachelor groups in the summer in the 24 hours before and after a front hits, you’ll learn a lot.
You’ll witness peak activity periods, watch big deer, and get a glimpse into how you should hunt the early season when similar conditions are about to roll through. You’ll also get a chance to spend some time out there in the rain, like I mentioned earlier, and if you want a cheat code to killing big bucks in September and early October, that’s it.
Just like you want to get to the edge of a field in spring turkey season when it starts to rain, the same rules apply for deer. Soybeans are like magic in an early-season rain, but deer will hit other food sources, too. They’ll also just move more as long as it’s not a real frog-choker of a downpour, meaning you don’t need to post up on an ag field to kill one in your rain gear.
Digital Realities There is nothing more beneficial than watching a big buck do what a big buck does, in person. Summertime scouting is the best opportunity for this that you’ll have all year. But, you can’t be out there all the time.
This is where our trail cameras come into play, but we often severely underutilize their recon when it comes to pattern matching with the weather. This can be accomplished with a traditional, non-cellular camera, but it is much easier with a cell camera.
When pictures show up, pay attention to what’s going on weather-wise. Some camera apps already do a lot of heavy lifting here for you, but you have to understand how to use those features. Either way, when you get a picture of your target buck, or a bachelor group moving nice and early in the evening, make a note of what is going on weather-wise.
Is it just a random, cool evening when it makes sense for them to leave their beds early to start munching on some greenery? Or is there a warning on your weather app about severe thunderstorms headed your way? What was the wind doing?
All of this intel matters to your hunting season, even if it’s still a few months away. This is almost (notice I said almost) a shortcut to developing solid woodsmanship. Think about it this way–an ol’ timer with several decades of bowhunting under his belt could probably tell you on any given day whether the deer movement is going to be heavy or light, just by stepping outside.
Most of us don’t get as much time in the woods, in or out of the season, as we’d like. That’s where you develop serious deer skills, but there are other ways to get better. And one is to scout during inclement weather in the months leading up to the season. The other is to really try to understand what your trail cameras are telling you, which is usually a hell of a lot more than a buck just walked through a specific location at a specific time of day.
Like most rebellious teenagers, I wasn’t much for rules. But the Thanksgiving weekend of 2007, I played it by the book. My dad gave me strict instructions not to leave my hunting blind until dark, especially if I shot a deer. And, Buddy, did I keep that bucket seat warm.
My ears were still ringing when I peered through the new hole in the blind’s shoot-through mesh. The buck I shot dropped in its tracks, and I could see its white underbelly lying in the clover patch. I didn’t have a cell phone back then, so I just sat there shaking until dark, periodically looking through the hole to make sure he was still there. When it came time to leave, I didn’t even walk down to see it. Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t. My dad and I got to find my first deer together. It was a great experience we shared and the first one like that since I’d moved in with him a few years prior. That first deer finally helped us break the ice.
Before that season, I’d always tagged along with my dad to deer or rabbit hunt when it was his weekend to have me. I enjoyed going with him and my grandfather every other weekend to their hunting camps, but I wasn’t sold on hunting, not yet anyway. I was more interested in skateboarding and video games then. He and my mom never married, and I lived with her, so I spent most of my time indoors. So it was a bit of a table-turner when I found out I would be leaving town for the woods.
My mother had a growing addiction problem, one that would eventually take her life, and like a responsible parent, my dad stepped in. I kicked and screamed like hell when she broke the news to me one day after she let me skip school. But she didn’t have a choice, and neither did I. As a 10-year-old, I didn’t understand at the time. All I knew was that my dad was taking me away from my mom. I didn’t like it, and I wasn’t going to make it easy for him. Those first few years were tough. We didn’t find common ground in much, not until I really started hunting.
When the last minutes of shooting light faded, I unzipped my way out of the blind and walked the cattle trail back to my aunt’s house. The trail wound past a feed shed my grandfather and his brother built. Cows were standing outside it in the dark when I walked past. A few of them scattered while some just stared and bellowed as I propped my gun on the gate post and climbed the fence.
My aunt was under the carport feeding her herd of semi-feral cats when I walked up. She was nearly deaf even with her hearing aids, so she didn’t hear me coming, but when the cats scurried, she turned and yelled, “Get anything?” so I yelled back, “Got a buck!” as I formed a rack with my hands. She smiled and nodded and went back to dropping scraps in the feed bowls. Since I didn’t have a cell phone (cell service hadn’t made it to that part of the county yet anyway), I waited under my aunt’s carport for my dad to arrive from another property, one my grandfather owned.
My great aunt, Donna Sue, lived in a ranch-style house at the end of a long drive lined with old water oaks. She didn’t have any children herself, but she was the understood matriarch of our family. She put both of her brothers and my dad through college. She even paid my stepmother to clean her house weekly. She wasn’t rich, but she saved every penny, and nothing went to waste. We met at her house to celebrate holidays, work in her garden, and hunt. She always sent us home with groceries, which, for better or worse, included Fig Newtons.
She lived in the community of Standing Pine, Mississippi, a few miles east of the Pearl River in Carthage. Leake County isn’t exactly a whitetail destination, at least, that’s what the locals want you to believe. However, her property was a prime example of what unpressured hunting can look like even in a no-name county. That place was a dream for a teenage boy who needed the space to roam. It consisted of cattle pastures, mature hardwood stands, and a few young pine plantations, all interspersed on eighty acres of gently rolling hills. The lack of hunting pressure on neighboring properties made the entire place a honey hole. You could see deer moving at any time of day, even in the middle of a field. Only now do I realize how special that place was.
I shot my first squirrel and deer there. I watched my first longbeard strut, witnessed a fox pounce on a field rat. I learned to hunt from the ground, to blend in with the woods. Once, I sat so still that a hawk landed on a branch directly above my head and gave us both a heart attack. That property gave me the freedom to mess up but more importantly, it taught me how to hunt.
I also wounded and lost a good buck there. My dad and I spent half a day on our hands and knees tracking specks of blood until property lines forced us to give up. A front came through that same day, and the rain washed away any hopes of recovering that buck. Losing that buck stung, but not nearly as bad as it stung when we lost that property.
When my dad’s headlights finally made it down the driveway, I was halfway to his truck before he had a chance to open his door. My eagerness gave me away, and when he finally stepped out he said,
“How big is he?” I again made a rack with my hands, moving them closer and further apart until I settled on what must have been about a 17-inch spread. Not unbelievable, but a heck of a first deer. When I held them up and nodded, he just smiled. “Well, let’s go get him.”
We drove my aunt’s farm truck to the field edge where I’d shot the deer. This particular spot led down to what we called the sand bottom. The sand bottom made a small finger that split two hardwood ridges, and we planted it in oats and clover every year. It was a consistently reliable spot where we killed numerous bucks and always saw a pile of deer.
A few years later, in that very spot, I was climbing a tree when the bottom straps of my climber broke and the platform plummeted to the ground. I’d made it about twelve feet when this happened. Luckily, I was still tethered to the tree. Rather than abandon that spot, I decided to stick it out. I pressed my way up and wiggled into the seat, making sure my harness was snug to the tree. It wasn’t the safest decision. I certainly don’t recommend doing this, but I made the most of the situation and ended up shooting a buck that same evening.
As my dad crept the truck down the hill the buck came into view. He edged closer and threw the column shifter in park. Dad then pulled a can of Copenhagen from his jacket pocket and started packing it.
“Son,” my dad said with a straight face, “I don’t think that’s your deer.”
What? I was stunned. No, that deer definitely dropped in its tracks. I had watched it lie there for a good twenty minutes before returning to my aunt’s. If that wasn’t my deer, then where did this one come from? My dad finished packing his lip, wiping leftover grains on his pants when he said, “Yeah, that one’s not nearly as big as the one you showed me.” He couldn’t even finish the sentence before he lost it.
The author with his first deer.
After he had a good laugh, we finally got out and walked over to my deer. My dad was right. That basket rack was nowhere near the size I’d shown him with my hands. The amount of ground shrinkage that occurred was comical, and even I couldn’t help but laugh. We loaded up the deer, took a few photos on a disposable camera, and thanked Donna Sue for letting us hunt, but not before she loaded us down with a few grocery bags from the Piggly Wiggly.
I remember latching the gate in her driveway before we left her house. I stood at the back of the truck as it sat idling and looked at that deer in the bed. At that point in my life, my dad and I didn’t get along much. That basket rack changed that.
Throughout high school, Donna Sue’s place became a sort of retreat. It seemed the antidote to the misfortune that occurred in my life during those years. I’d lose a friend who drowned a few springs later. My mother’s addiction continued to spiral. Sometimes she’d go on benders that lasted weeks. Other times, she’d no-show for those awkward weekend pickups that divorced parents do at gas stations. When that happened, my dad would immediately plan for us to hunt or at least get outside. He didn’t often know what to say or how to say it, but that’s the beauty of hunting—you don’t have to say much.
Me and dad still butted heads, but we grew closer during that time while my mother and I simultaneously drifted apart. He wasn’t trying to supplant her as the favorite parent, but he could tell I needed some direction. Hunting was his way of giving me that.
I basically had the property to myself for a lot of our hunts. My dad hunted down the road at another property my grandfather bought in the 60s for nearly nothing. It kept me out of his hunting spots but gave me room to roam. Even though the hunting was generally better at Donna Sue’s property, he let me have the run of the place. I think it was his way of giving me space.
Several years later, my aunt’s health took a rapid and unexpected decline, and in May of 2012 she died. Her brother, my great uncle, would end up inheriting her property, and he made his intentions clear—he was going to sell it. He wasn’t a hunter and didn’t need the property, nor did he want the upkeep. He held true to his word and sold it the following year. I don’t blame him—not now at least. But that didn’t make it any easier for me, my dad, or my grandfather to stomach at the time.
My dad and I tossed around the idea of getting hunting permission from the new owners, but they wasted no time on the property. Just months after it sold, the new owners demolished the feed shed my grandfather built and replaced it with a brand new house. They also bulldozed the shack where my great-grandmother gave birth to her children—where my grandfather and his siblings grew up. In some way, I think those changes gave us immediate closure. It became something unfamiliar overnight.
I remember the following hunting season hit like a sack of bricks. We had another hunting property nearly twice the size, but the surrounding hunting pressure made it tough. Neither of us tagged a buck that year. On top of that, my aunt’s had served as our camp house. Instead of having a place to nap or sit by the fireplace, we’d spend the time between morning and evening sits in the cab of my dad’s truck. We talked about everything between those sits. We’d recap what we heard or saw during that morning’s hunt, or where we thought we could make habitat improvements. Of course, we’d bitch about the neighbors and lack of deer.
Dad would often tell me hunting stories from his childhood, divulge family history, and ask about my plans after college. Those talks in the truck cab became the highlight of our hunting trips. He did a great job of making the most out of our hunting situation. Eventually, we stopped bringing up Donna Sue’s.
Losing that piece of ground stung, but I guess it worked out. I started exploring public lands, my dad and I spent a lot more time hunting together. In some ways, it felt necessary, like pruning or burning. Our last season there, I killed one of my biggest bucks to date. Dad and I followed the blood trail until it trickled out. Eventually, we both glassed him up at the same time and let out a big “woooo!” when we saw him piled up in a patch of pine saplings.
Leaving a place like that on a high note beats watching it slowly decline or become something else entirely. I guess that applies to loved ones, too. Loss is inevitable, but like hunting, you just sort of keep going even when you don’t want to or it doesn’t make sense. Things usually work out for the best that way, especially when you least expect it. I think that’s what dad kept trying to tell me, lugging me around in his truck all those years, even if he didn’t know how to say it.
Feature image via Matt Hansen Photography.
Deer hunting is simple enough, right? Locate, read, and interpret the sign. Then, you formulate a plan to ambush them while they travel, feed, or some combination of the two. In its simplest form, that is how you would hunt and kill a deer. Of course, harvest rates tell us that it’s a little more complicated than that.
Hunting pressure, deer populations, and a host of other variables also tip the scales one way or another. As much as hunting media (and even this article) want you to believe, most deer hunting tips fly around like stray meteors—most of them don’t actually hit. While there’s a ton of solid information out there, you still need to sift through a lot of noise to figure out what works best for you and your situation. We all have different time constraints, goals, and obligations, so here are a few ways to find a deer hunting strategy that works for you.
Evaluate Your GoalsI think a lot of hunters would avoid resentment and disappointment if they did an honest evaluation of their hunting goals. It would probably make deer hunting fun for them, too. I think everyone should aspire to lofty goals, within reason. That type of work and determination offers a host of benefits beyond just hunting, but we’re not all going to finish on the podium.
For instance, do you really want to kill a 150-inch buck, or are you happy to tag any deer that comes down the trail? If killing a P&Y buck every year is your goal, consider the actual odds of doing so. Do you hunt areas where you might get a reasonable opportunity at a 150-inch buck? Most folks don’t. Unless you can dedicate the time and/or resources to making that goal happen, you might want to lower your expectations.
Considering a Career Swap?You also need to consider if your work/life meshes with your current hunting goals and aspirations. If you only have a handful of days to hunt every year, then you should probably have pretty low standards for deer and even fewer restrictions on how you hunt them.
For instance, if you think killing a mature buck with traditional equipment sounds cool because you saw someone on YouTube do it, but you have about ten days per year to hunt, you might go a whole lifetime without getting an opportunity at one. In that situation, you should either happily shoot the first legal deer that gives you an opportunity or pick up a rifle. Otherwise, you can go ahead and hang something else in that empty spot on the wall.
But, if you’re stuck on that goal, you’ll need to rearrange some of your life’s priorities to make it happen. Are you willing to find another job that gives you flexible time off to hunt? Or would you pack up and move somewhere that increases your chances of harvesting a mature buck every year? Can you dedicate the hours before or after work to scouting? These might seem drastic, but there are plenty of hunters who have committed their time, resources, and lives to do so.
Tune Out the NoiseFrom social media amateurs to trusted media outlets, there’s a ton of information out there that ranges from gold nuggets to useless. Somewhere in between, there are solid tips and strategies that you can adapt to your own situation. Discerning that is mostly trial and error.
If you have weeks’ worth of time to hunt every fall, then you can probably hold out for those “optimal” hunting conditions. In that case, saving your best hunting spot might give you the greatest opportunity at your target buck. If you’re limited to an occasional Saturday, you better not hold out for anything short of a pending apocalypse. For this scenario, you can throw out the “saving your best stands” tactic and not worry about burning your spots. So what if you bump that buck? When else are you going to get a shot at him? You can apply this same approach to nearly any hunting tactic.
One or the OtherHunting companies and media won’t tell you this, but most of us can’t have our cake and eat it too when it comes to hunting. For instance, you can hunt with trad equipment in a ghillie suit, or you can kill a mature buck. Most hunters likely won’t do both. I’m not downing anyone’s abilities, nor do I think that should stop you from hunting the way you want. It’s just the truth. Short of a miracle or a guided hunt, most hunters won’t consistently kill an upper-echelon buck.
This dilemma presents a crossroads. Should you hunt with trad equipment and shoot any deer? Or do you want to have a real crack at a mature buck, even if that means you have to do it with a rifle? If the result of killing a mature buck is more important than how you do it, then you should probably consider rifle hunting or paying for guided hunts. While these options can certainly increase your chances, there’s still no guarantee.
You’ll also need to consider hunting spots that give you the best shot at a mature buck. If you decide to go this route, that crosses off most highly pressured public lands in many scenarios. Again, I’m not saying it’s impossible, but the odds aren’t in your favor. Unless you can afford a premium hunting lease or you have access to prime hunting grounds, you’ll need to take a hard look at your goals.
Keep It FunConsistency is key, but so is fun. If you don’t enjoy the way you hunt or your results, you won’t stick with hunting. This approach applies to dang near everything, too. That’s why it’s important to find a hunting strategy that fits your life and your goals.
Where I live, I’d probably be a lot more successful if I joined a solid hunting camp and solely rifle hunted over bait. While I’m not above toting my favorite rifle through the woods, this style of hunting just doesn’t do it for me. But for those hunters who love shooting from their favorite ladder stands, go for it. Just find something that keeps you in the woods.
Now that the spring gobbler season has come and gone and the heat of summer settles in, many hunters stash their gear and count the days until the opening morning of deer season. However, the off-season doesn’t mean hunters should take a break. In fact, summer may be the most underrated time to scout, strategize, and prepare for a successful fall.
I’ll admit it, I start getting excited for fall long before it arrives. While most people spend the hot, humid days of summer relaxing at the beach, swimming in the river, or lounging by the pool, I find my thoughts drifting to crisp autumn mornings spent in a treestand or saddle, bow in hand, chasing whitetails. Though I enjoy summertime activities like anyone else, I know that summer whitetail preparation isn’t just a heat-induced daydream; it’s a crucial part of the hunting season.
This is the time to fine-tune your setup. Shooting your bow in the backyard, dialing in trail camera placements, maintaining food plots, and scouting for reliable water sources. Taking advantage of summer prep not only deepens your understanding of deer behavior but also lays the foundation for success when opening day finally arrives.
Smart Trail Camera StrategiesSummer is prime time to monitor deer activity with trail cameras. Fall may be the time when bucks are chasing does during the breeding season, but there is actually a lot happening with deer during the summer. Bucks are in bachelor groups, antlers are developing rapidly, giving us a preview of what trophies will be on our hit list. As for scouting, movement is generally predictable as deer simply spend their days transitioning between bedding, feeding, and watering locations. The good news for hunters is that capturing deer on camera is much easier during this time, compared to fall.
When placing summer trail cameras, consider setting them along the edges of fields and mineral sites. Ideal locations include the borders of bean fields, clover plots, or areas with plenty of natural browse, as these spots often draw regular evening activity when deer come out to feed during the cooler hours. Water sources are also prime locations, especially during hot weather when water is scarce. Positioning cameras near ponds, creeks, or artificial water holes can be particularly productive. Additionally, travel corridors, such as funnels between bedding areas and food or water sources, are valuable targets, as deer tend to follow the path of least resistance, even in the summer.
When it comes to camera settings, it's best to use photo mode for easier pattern analysis and extended battery life. In recent years, I have become a strong advocate for solar panels. A solar panel can keep cameras running on the same batteries for more extended periods, which prevents the need to switch out batteries every other week. If you don’t have a solar panel, check your cameras sparingly, ideally every few weeks, to minimize human scent and reduce pressure on the deer.
Food Plot MaintenanceIf you've planted food plots, summer is the time to keep them healthy. A well-maintained plot offers nutrition for growing bucks and nursing does while also creating a dependable destination for fall hunting.
When managing a plot, several key considerations must be taken into account. Weed control is vital, as invasive plants can quickly take over if not properly managed. Techniques such as spot spraying or mowing help maintain the plot’s effectiveness and are excellent tasks to complete during the summer. Fertilization is also important. Clover and other perennial plants benefit from mid-summer fertilization, which promotes growth and increases protein content.
It is also necessary to assess areas that didn’t grow well. Reseeding and soil testing can help identify deficiencies, allowing you to amend the soil as needed and prepare for fall planting with fresh seed if necessary, or move the plot to a different area that is better suited for growing. Regarding new plots, summer is also a great time to try different blends or varieties in small test plots to see what performs best in your soil and local climate. If they thrive, then expand the plot to a larger area or make plans to plant that particular seed the following year.
Locating and Managing Water SourcesIn many regions, water becomes a huge factor in late summer when natural sources dry up. Understanding where deer are drinking can provide a major advantage, especially in arid or drought-prone areas.
Finding water is a key aspect of managing wildlife habitat. Topographical maps can help identify low-lying areas where water naturally collects. When scouting, look for creek crossings, small springs, or shaded mud holes where deer might visit to cool off and stay hydrated. In areas where natural water is scarce, creating water opportunities can significantly enhance habitat use. Installing small water tanks or barrels, particularly on private land, is a helpful option. These should be placed near bedding cover or along transition zones where deer frequently travel.
Ensure that any water source you provide is consistently filled and reliable, as deer tend to avoid areas where water supplies are likely to dry up. When supplementing water in small pools or tanks, place a piece of wood or an object that can help prevent fawns from falling into the water and getting stuck. Trail cameras positioned near water are beneficial because they provide 24/7 insight into which deer are on your property and how often they visit.
Understanding Summer PatternsSummer deer movement differs significantly from fall patterns. During the summer, bucks are generally less cautious, more visible, and primarily motivated by food and comfort. While their behavior may appear more relaxed, their patterns still provide great insights. Bucks often establish core areas in the summer that may remain into early fall. Observing group behavior during this period can also reveal dominance structures that may influence activity during the rut.
Although daylight movement is more prevalent in the summer, identifying areas where deer feel secure can aid in selecting future stand locations. Document your observations, track movement trends, and monitor environmental changes, such as crop growth, timber cutting, or nearby human activity, that could impact deer behavior.
Summer may seem like a slow season for hunters, but those who take the time to scout, plan, and observe now will be miles ahead come opening day. By fine-tuning your trail camera setup, maintaining food and water sources, and learning how deer interact with your property during the heat of the off-season, you’ll create a blueprint for success. The bucks you track in July may very well be the same ones you target in September, October, and November; only then, they’ll be sporting hard antlers, and the stakes will be higher.
I typically give my garage a good cleaning every few months. Every time I do, I pick up some of my old antlers, sheds, and dead heads. I’ll reminisce on some of my favorite hunts or make false promises to myself about new spots. Then, I put them back in the corner until the next cleaning, where they go on collecting dust.
I’m sure most hunters can relate to this hoarding dilemma. While I won’t just throw away a set of antlers, there are better ways to use them than as props in your garage. As the current pile at my house will attest, I’m no expert on the matter, but here are a few ways you can put that old bone to use.
BarterA regular at the gun shop I worked at in college made custom knives. Occasionally, he would use antlers to fashion the handles. Whenever he ran low on the material, he’d try to trade for antlers with some of the locals or my coworkers. Sometimes he’d offer ammo. Other times, cash. Most people just gave him a few antlers at a time. But if you had a big pile of antlers, he’d offer to make you a knife, which is exactly what I did.
One of the antlers from my first deer burned, so I stashed the remaining side in my dad’s shed. I gave Jim (the knifemaker) a basket full of old sheds, and he made an excellent skinning knife with the antler from my first deer. That knife carries an obvious sentimentality with it. Jim has also died since then, so that makes the knife that much cooler to me.
Of course, this is just one example, but you get the point. If someone’s willing to buy antlers from you, then there’s a good chance you can convince them to swap them for something in return. That could be a cool knife, a box of ammo, or maybe even a good scope for the right antler(s). Regardless, either will serve you better than those antlers in your garage.
Donate Them to ArtistsI’m not talking about people who make bottle openers or wine stoppers out of antlers to make a quick buck. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, or that those things aren’t creative. I’m thinking about local artists who might make mixed media, collages, or other creative installations. Ya know, the “art for art’s sake” that you might see in an exhibition, but aren’t necessarily commercialized pieces.
Yeah, those artists typically have a slower rate of return than the type of deer antler knick-knacks you find at a gas station. It’s not often that artists get a bone thrown their way, and I’m sure they’d appreciate a few of the dusty ones sitting in your garage.
Make Some Extra CashArtists aside, there’s a lucrative market for antlers. If you’ve been wondering what to do with all those sheds in your shed, you might be able to turn a quick profit. Whether you have elk or deer antlers, buyers typically pay by the pound. Of course, the size and condition of the antlers will determine the price. A quick Google search revealed that prices can range anywhere from a few bucks to almost $20 per pound for the right shed.
While shed hunting’s popularity has increased over the last several years, it’s not totally from pure sport. A fresh, matching pair of elk sheds could fetch you a few hundred bucks. You can see why Western states have had to impose strict guidelines around shed hunting. Even if you don’t have a pristine and impressive set of antlers, you might have enough to cover a tank of gas.
Fashion Yourself a PairThis might be an obvious one, but every deer hunter should fashion themselves a pair of rattling antlers, even if you only plan to use them a handful of times. If nothing, they’re a conversation piece for when your non-hunting friends come over. This is also a good way to trim down your collection.
Pick a decent set that would make good rattling antlers and plan to sell, trade, or donate the rest. You’ll have a good pair for rattling and plenty of room for new finds. Just remember to saw the brow tines off so you don’t ram one through your thumb.
Prepping for deer season starts long before October. Hanging stands and trimming shooting lanes are important, but that shouldn’t be the only preseason work on your schedule this year. While it might not be as sexy, habitat improvements can provide immediate and long-term benefits for private hunting properties. In fact, I’d bet my favorite hunting rifle that habitat management will increase your odds of success more than buying a new tree stand or bow.
But hunting properties are anything but equal, so I tried to think of multiple solutions for a variety of hunters, hunting styles, and properties. To do so, I spoke with Dr. Bronson Strickland of MSU’s Deer Lab at Mississippi State University about science-backed practices for habitat improvements. Dr. Strickland also cofounded and is the lead wildlife Biologist for Wildlife Investments, which specializes in private consultation specifically for wildlife population and habitat management. Here are a few practices he highlighted during our conversation.
Forest Stand ImprovementFor both large and small properties, Dr. Strickland emphasized Forest and Timber Stand Improvement (FSI) as an excellent option for whitetail habitat management.
“If you want to create more travel corridors, bedding, and forage for deer, you want to practice FSI,” Dr. Strickland said. “If you want to prioritize a certain tree, like white oaks, for instance, you can remove competing trees in the area. This will get some sunlight on the forest floor, which is critical for creating that early successional growth that provides bedding and food.”
Dr. Strickland noted that you won’t see results right away, but after a year or two, those areas will produce bedding/travel cover and natural browse for deer.
On larger properties, especially leased land, timber companies will be working from a Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) standpoint. The difference between TSI and FSI is monetary. TSI prioritizes removing timber for financial benefit, while habitat management is the driving force behind FSI. But that’s not to suggest that TSI doesn’t provide habitat improvements as well. This is how the majority of leased properties operate, so hunting clubs and camps revolve around TSI practices.
Even for larger, private lands, TSI can be a great way to harvest timber while prioritizing habitat management for whitetails.
“Summer is a great time for clear-cutting or thinning stands of timber,” Dr. Strickland said. “Just make sure you’re also working with a licensed forester, so you can tell them your habitat and wildlife management goals. Otherwise, you could be left with a mess.”
Small-Scale ImprovementsFor a lot of hunters, large-scale habitat improvements might not be possible. However, there are still plenty of options if you put in the time and effort.
As a wildlife biologist and experienced deer hunter, Dr. Strickland approaches his science-backed habitat management practices through both of those lenses. He not only gathers data from his research, but also interprets that data’s significance for hunters. One of these practices includes improving access or existing roads on a property.
“This is a great time of year to improve roads on the periphery of the property,” he said. “You have to slip in and out undetected, so I want to keep roads open on a two-year burn interval.”
If you’re working with a smaller property, you can check your local conditions and regulations to burn around these areas. Alternatively, you can contact your state’s forestry commission to plan a prescribed burn.
Dr. Strickland encourages the two-year burn rotation on roads/walking paths to discourage bedding in those access points. But that practice has a twofold benefit. By maintaining those access points and paths on a two-year burn rotation, you also create brooding areas for turkeys, he said.
Along with creating ideal access, hunters on smaller properties can implement a few practices every year to improve the habitat. You don’t have to (and won’t) change the property overnight, so doing a few chores every year can have a greater effect in the long run.
“Small-scale fires or a few cuts every year really add up,” Dr. Strickland said. “A few chainsaws and drip torches go a long way. Or, maybe you plant a food plot this year and then two the next by introducing a summer plot, you can have some really nice small food plots by doing these things.”
Neutralizing Food Plot SoilPlanting food plots seems like an obvious answer, but there’s more to it than just tilling the dirt and spreading seed. Regarding food plots, Dr. Strickland emphasized that getting a soil sample could benefit your food plots the most.
“It’s [sampling] so much better to do it right now,” he said. “It’s critical because most places will have low pH levels. If the pH in your soil is low, meaning it’s acidic, get an application of agricultural lime to neutralize it.”
Dr. Strickland specifically noted agricultural lime in the amount of one to two tons per acre, as opposed to other large pellet offerings. These large pellets typically have a diluted concentration of lime due to the dust that’s used to bind the pellets, so you’re actually getting less in these options.
“Ag lime will give you years of neutralization,” he said. “You’ll see real dividends when you go from an acidic to neutral soil, and it’s the best return on your money.”
Those “dividends” will surface in healthier, more robust food plots, especially if you’ve struggled to see a ton of growth.
He also emphasized that summer is the best time to lime your food plots so they’ll have ample time to neutralize before you actually plant them in the fall. Otherwise, if you wait until September, you won’t reap the benefits like you would if you start in May or June.
Increase Food PlotsAnother way to increase habitat and browse for deer is to increase the number or size of food plots on your property. One way to do this on private land is to introduce summer food plots, but with a caveat.
“Summer food plots are great,” Dr. Strickland said, “but I don’t recommend them unless you use them with an herbicide.”
Because of the growing season, Dr. Strickland said that summer food plots can suffer from weed competition and never really emerge.
He recommended using a pre-emergent herbicide when planting. This type of herbicide will keep weed seeds from germinating. Setting that weed pressure back a month or two can give your forage crop a chance to grow, which makes a huge difference, he said.
You can also increase the size of your current food plots if you’re looking for more summer habitat improvements. The size and expansion will be relative to your current situation, but increasing forage on any property, regardless of size, will prove beneficial.
While this isn’t feasible for most hunters, Dr. Strickland noted that three to five acres is the sweet spot. He recommends this size because research has shown that deer spend significantly more time on a four- to five-acre food plot. However, beyond five acres, you should expect diminishing returns, He said.
“If I had the means to do 10 acres of food plots, I would break those up into three different food plots,” he said.
My takeaway from our conversation tells me there’s always work to be done. Whether you’re harvesting large blocks of timber or burning half an acre, any habitat improvement is better than none.
On Wednesday, May 7, North Dakota finalized its 2025 season dates and license quotas. The North Dakota Game and Fish (NDGF) agency notably cut licenses down to 42,300. This is 7,800 tags or 16% fewer than 2024.
The tag reductions apply to most of the state’s deer tags, including both either-species tags and specifically designated whitetail tags. Muzzleloader-only licenses were also slashed. The only tag quotas that weren’t significantly impacted were for the state’s Type C mule deer buck licenses and youth antlered mule deer licenses.
NDGF officials say the license reductions are necessary to help the state’s embattled deer populations bounce back from a series of unfortunate events.
“The state’s deer population continues to recover from the 2021 EHD outbreak and the severe winter of 2022-23, which limited population growth despite reduced gun licenses during 2023 and 2024 hunting seasons,” said NDGF wildlife division chief Casey Anderson in a press release. “Modest license allocations are intended to maintain hunting opportunities while encouraging population growth in the state.”
The 2022-23 winter was particularly hard on ungulates in North Dakota. In some units, mule deer populations declined by as much as 84%, while whitetails declined by as much as 51%.
This year’s tag allocation is the lowest it’s been in North Dakota in a decade. Wildlife managers say that conditions for recovering the state’s herds can be potentially impacted by declining habitat availability. If CRP contracts continue to terminate without being renewed, the state could lose 85% of the 3.4 million acres it had enrolled in the conservation program in 2007 by 2026.
North Dakota is not alone in attempting to address embattled deer populations. Nearby states such as Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho are contending with declining deer populations, particularly in mule deer, following the 2022-23 winter and compounded by other issues, from drought to wolves.
Summer is the perfect time for bowhunters to sharpen their skills and ensure they’re ready when hunting season arrives. While shooting a few arrows at a backyard target is better than nothing, structured drills can dramatically improve accuracy, consistency, and confidence.
This past summer, after diving into the saddle-hunting craze, I found myself perched fifteen feet up in one of our backyard trees. The best way to get comfortable with a new elevated hunting setup was to practice in the yard. As I sat in the saddle, it occurred to me that I should also shoot my bow from this position. Before long, I had a target set up and used a rope to pull my bow up to my small saddle platform. Over the next few weeks, I spent my summer evenings in the saddle, honing my archery skills.
By incorporating simulated hunting scenarios, such as practicing with my saddle in the backyard, engaging in long-distance shooting, and including physical exertion in practice sessions, bowhunters can enhance their skills and better prepare for real-world hunting situations.
Simulate Hunting ScenariosPracticing in realistic conditions helps bowhunters build muscle memory and confidence. When I first hunted from my new tree saddle, I better understood what to expect when a shot opportunity arose. Even so, there were certain positions and movements I needed to experience firsthand to become entirely comfortable.
Without prior practice shooting from the saddle, I would have felt awkward and unprepared, increasing the risk of missing or wounding a deer simply due to discomfort with the setup. Instead of shooting from level ground at a stationary target during summer practice sessions, it's essential to replicate the unpredictable nature of real hunting scenarios.
- Tree Stand, Saddle & Ground Blind Practice - If you hunt from a tree stand or a tree saddle, set up in your yard or practice at an elevated range. This will change angles and arrow trajectory, so getting comfortable with these shots is essential. Likewise, if you hunt from a ground blind, practice drawing and shooting from a seated position while managing potential obstructions like blind walls or shooting windows.
- Shoot with Hunting Gear - Most hunters practice their archery shooting regimens during the summer when it is often warm. However, it is vital to wear the same clothing and use the exact gear you will have during hunting season. Include gloves, arm guards, backpacks, and camouflage clothing in your summer practice. This ensures that nothing interferes with your shot execution when the moment presents itself.
- Shoot at 3D Targets - Using a block or bag-style target is the most popular choice among hunters for summer practice. However, instead of always aiming for bullseyes, try shooting at life-sized 3D deer targets occasionally. Focus on vital areas from different angles to simulate actual shot placements in the field.
Shoot Long-Distance for Increased AccuracyWhen practicing at long distances, I often think of a good friend who gave me some valuable advice. He explained that when a baseball slugger steps into the on-deck circle before their at-bat, they use an added weight or another bat to increase the load during practice swings. After swinging the heavier weight multiple times, they approach the plate with a regular bat, which feels much lighter, leading to a faster swing.
He explained he similarly practices backyard archery: “I start my first shot at fifty or sixty yards, then by the time I get to twenty yards or closer, the bullseye appears much larger, providing me with tighter accuracy.” Shooting beyond typical hunting distances (e.g., 50, 60, or even 80 yards) forces archers to refine their form and focus on every aspect of their shot.
- Confidence at Close Range - After dialing in long-distance shots, shooting at 20 or 30 yards feels effortless. This builds confidence for those critical close-range opportunities.
- Refining Form and Release - Shooting at extended distances magnifies form, grip, and release flaws. Working on these elements at long range translates to better accuracy when it matters most.
Incorporate Physical ExertionHunting often demands quick shots after hiking through rough terrain or climbing into a stand. Practicing under physical stress helps bowhunters maintain accuracy, even when their heart rate is elevated. This training can also benefit high-adrenaline situations, such as when a mature buck suddenly steps into bow range. Despite the scenario, practicing shots while out of breath or with an increased heart rate is an excellent way to prepare for actual hunting conditions.
During the summer, I often spend many of my early mornings on a three to five-mile run to avoid the much higher heat later in the day. One of the most beneficial times for practicing with my bow comes just minutes after my morning run. Immediately after returning home, I grab my bow and shoot five or six arrows while still feeling the effects of the run. This routine has boosted my confidence, and shooting a bow has become a sick addition to my morning workout.
- Cardio & Shooting Drills - If you don’t want to run before shooting, perform a set of jumping jacks, push-ups, or quick sprints before taking a shot to simulate the adrenaline rush of a hunting scenario.
- Hold at Full Draw - Strengthen your shooting muscles by drawing your bow and holding at full draw for 30 to 60 seconds before releasing. This drill improves endurance and steadiness when waiting for the perfect shot.
Shoot from Unconventional PositionsMost veteran bowhunters agree that real hunting scenarios rarely allow for the perfect shooting stance typically used during practice. When hunting, the animal may approach from an unexpected angle, behind an obstruction, or directly behind an object that blocks the ideal shot. To account for this, improvise and position yourself awkwardly to take these shots so you’re better prepared for challenging situations.
- Kneeling & Sitting Shots - Bowhunters often need to shoot from a kneeling or seated position, especially when hunting from the ground. Practicing these shots ensures you can execute them smoothly in the field.
- Twisting & Angled Shots - Sometimes, the game doesn’t present a shot straight ahead. Practicing shots that are slightly twisted or at different angles improves flexibility and adaptability.
Randomized Shot ExecutionMany bowhunters develop predictable shooting routines, but hunting is inherently unpredictable. In addition to practicing where you’re shooting from, varying shot timing and distances forces you to react as you would in the field.
Shooting my bow after a vigorous morning run helps simulate shooting while excited or nervous. Additionally, this unique practice can alleviate the monotony of shooting in the same way each time. Shooting in random locations, positions, and distances is vital to improve yourself for an upcoming hunt.
- Random Distance Practice - Rather than setting up at a known yardage, have a friend call out distances or use rangefinders to simulate real hunting scenarios. Another option, when shooting solo, is to use a smaller round target with a rope attached. The shooter can throw the target in any direction, waiting for it to land at an unknown location and distance before taking the shot.
- One-Shot Drills - In hunting, you often have just one opportunity. Step back from the target instead of shooting multiple arrows in succession, reset, and then take one deliberate shot. This drill mimics real-world conditions and helps build focus.
By incorporating these summer archery drills, bowhunters can fine-tune their skills and build the confidence needed for a successful season. Simulated hunting scenarios, long-distance shooting, physical exertion, and unconventional shooting positions contribute to becoming a more proficient archer. When the moment of truth arrives, those extra hours of practice will pay off with a well-placed shot and a successful hunt.
Looking for more ways to fine-tune your archery skills? Check out these articles: Develop a Shooter’s Foundation Before Leveling Up Your Archery Practice, Practice Like a Deer Hunter, Not a Target Shooter, and How Self-Awareness Can Make You A Better Bow Shot on Whitetails.
Every shed hunter knows the feeling: the exhilaration of picking up an antler and the instant curiosity about where the other side might be located. It could be resting a few feet away; it could be hidden in a brushy draw a half mile away, or it could be in the next county. There’s no way of knowing for certain—but new research may offer some clues.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska Kearney recently finished a 13-year study that aimed to determine exactly how far apart whitetail deer tend to shed their antlers. Every February through April, the team—led by Brian Peterson—collected sheds from 38 private properties in the Central Nebraska Platte River Valley, ranging from small family farms to larger Nature Conservancy and Audubon properties. All said, they found 1,059 antlers including 113 matched sets of varying age and condition, from fresh browns to antlers that had been sitting for a year or two. The researchers recorded the distance between matching antler pairs.
The results were somewhat surprising. While the researchers hypothesized that larger, older deer would shed their antlers closer together, they found the opposite to be true. They found 70% of antler pairs from younger deer (1.5-year-olds) within about 30 feet of each other.
Older deer, however, tended to drop further apart. Only 41% of older deer (2.5 years old or more) dropped both antlers within 30 feet of each other. Meanwhile, 52% of these older matched sets were found anywhere from 30 to 1,500 feet from the other. The average distance separating an antler pair off a younger deer was about 140 feet, compared to about 400 feet for older deer.
All said, the results indicate that the best chances of finding a matched set—especially off a smaller deer—are within about 100 yards of the first antler. “Once you get out of that 100-yard circle, your percentages drop sharply,” Peterson told the National Deer Association last year. “You may as well continue on your search for other antlers.”
Ultimately, the results confirm what shed hunters have known for a long time, but understanding the biological mechanism behind antler shedding can help make sense of this phenomenon. Biologically, antler shedding is a highly regulated process that is influenced seasonally by changes in daylight. Light is detected by the retina in a deer’s eye (which acts as a seasonal clock), triggering a series of hormone pathways that cause a sharp drop in testosterone after the rut.
That testosterone drop sets off another series of events that causes specialized, bone-eating cells in the deer’s body to absorb a thin layer of bone between the dead antler and the living bone of the pedicle, causing fast weakening and a sudden snap. The whole process occurs relatively quickly, which could explain why antlers tend to fall off together—usually within a few minutes or hours.
But as the researchers note, whitetail can travel a long distance in that time period—especially younger deer, which tend to have larger home ranges. As Peterson notes, “There’s a lot of unmatched antlers out there that will likely never be found, whether they are accessible on the property you are searching or not.”
Additionally, smaller antlers tend to be harder to match up because of their size, which could have influenced Peterson’s results. “The average distance between antler pairs in this study was likely underestimated for both age groups and especially for younger deer,” the researchers write. Larger antlers are easier to spot, so the results might be skewed in favor of finding larger antlers—especially when farther apart. In fact, even though antlers from younger deer tend to be closer to each other, researchers found over twice as many sets from older deer as they did from younger deer.
That explanation is the most digestible from a common-sense standpoint. As most shed hunters can attest, spotting a forky antler in thick brush is much harder than a big four- or five-pointer. Realistically, a small antler might be close by, but undiscoverable unless stepped on. Ultimately, the researchers seemed to conclude the same thing, and also noted that as spring green-up progresses, antlers—especially small ones—get harder and harder to find.
At the end of the day, the research project likely won’t change a thing about the way people shed hunt, but it is a noble attempt to answer one of life’s greatest questions: how far away is the other side?
It doesn’t matter how much post-season scouting I do, I always regret not adding more deer hunting spots to my list. While I think there’s merit in compiling historical data and spending time on a few properties, you can never have too many hunting spots for various reasons. Habitat changes from year to year, properties change hands, and hunting pressure heats up. Even drastic weather conditions might alter the way deer use (or don’t use) the landscape in a given year. I’ve seen one or a combination of these factors turn honeyholes into deserts in a matter of a single season.
Whether it’s a ten-minute or two-hour drive from your house, it always pays to have another hunting spot up your sleeve. But you don’t want to wait until the season opener to scrap a few properties together. Instead of procrastinating, here are a few ways to find new deer hunting spots this spring.
Low Hanging FruitYou might have to do some digging, but there are both public and private land hunting spots that might afford you quick access and relatively easy hunting. Start locally. I love hunting public lands. It’s adventurous and fulfilling. However, I also love hunting a few small private properties close to my house where the driving is easy and the pressure is low. I’m not suggesting that these spots grow on trees. You’ll have to work to find these spots, and you’ll never find them if you don’t try.
Talk to coworkers, church members, relatives, or neighbors to see if they own possible hunting spots. These don’t have to be huge tracts of land. Some of the biggest bucks killed recently have fallen on small, three- or four-acre properties.
For public land, there are a ton of overlooked spots near roads or access points. This makes them easy to scout, especially if you’re limited on time. You can also drop a camera to confirm any hunches about these places or if they deserve a sit. If not, you can quickly check that place off and move to the next one.
Get to Know the NeighborsThis next one can require a long-game approach. That’s why you need to start now. Whether you live in a cul-de-sac or on a dirt road, hopefully, you have established some rapport with your neighbors. Even if they don’t have hunting land, they might mention in passing that one of their friends, relatives, etc., does.
You can’t figure this out if you don’t at least get to know your neighbors. I’m not suggesting that you should only speak with them to get hunting permissions, but I’m sure there are worse reasons to befriend your neighbors. If nothing, you’ll have someone to keep an eye on things while you’re out of town.
If your neighbor does have potential hunting land, it always works better if you ask to bow hunt first. In my personal experience, asking someone to bow hunt usually works better than rifle hunting, especially if they don’t hunt themselves or you’re not sure where they land on firearms.
Hunting leases continue to skyrocket. If you do get permission, at least offer your time or resources to help out around that land, whether it’s a farm or not. Most folks won’t take you up on that offer, but it’s a meaningful gesture that could land you permission for years to come. It’s also just the right thing to do if someone lets you hunt their land for free. If you’re lucky enough to harvest a deer, offer some of the meat. I’ve done this with a particular permission property for several years now. The landowner never takes me up on it, but it’s a simple way to show them you appreciate the opportunity.
Turkey HuntingIf you’re spending a ton of time in the turkey woods this spring, you might as well check out a few potential deer hunting spots, too. The best turkey and deer habitats don’t necessarily overlap, but I’ve found several solid spots during the months of March and April when the gobbling was slow.
Even if you don’t want to cut into your turkey hunting, you can always drop pins or make a note to revisit a spot for a summer scouting session. Like deer, turkeys use edges to navigate the landscape. Just keep this in mind while you chase gobbles this spring.
Last ShotWhether you hunt private land or the closest national forest, you’ll have to work to find new hunting spots. Get out there this spring and cover as much ground as possible. When the season finally rolls around, you’ll have plenty of options when something inevitably changes.
I started my trapping career on the game lands of central North Carolina. By that time, I had already spent a decade hunting public-land deer and thought I had a pretty good grasp on the process. I had no idea that my winter trapping adventures would teach me not only all about furbearers but even more about the whitetails they share the land with.
I spent two years learning to trap in my favorite whitetail honey holes but generally viewed trapping as a separate pursuit. Then, I moved 1,200 miles west to Kansas and found myself back to square one on the public puzzle. This time, I had to find new spots for both deer and furbearers in an unfamiliar environment and quickly realized that the mindset of a trapper was just what I needed to dial in on deer.
Tiny Traps, Big RewardsSince I’m trapping on public ground and limited on time, my trapline has to be small and easy to access on foot. The only way to make a line like that effective is to focus on locations where traffic on the larger landscape is funneled down to one point of intercept. Basically, I look for places where the terrain is a trap in itself.
My primary targets, bobcats and coyotes, bring me to wide-open roadside creek bottoms and tight drainages between grassland ridges. Which is pretty much the opposite of the holy trinity of secluded crop fields, big timber, and shrubby bedding areas that most deer hunters, my pre-trapping self included, tend to focus on. But in the process of seeking out these tiny terrain traps for predators, I noticed that these overlooked areas all seemed to be equally loaded with deer.
Maybe it’s because these areas are unpressured, or it’s the unique late-season browse they hold, or that they are simply the easiest way for anything in the area to travel ridge-to-ridge. Who can say what makes a whitetail do what it does, really? That part doesn’t necessarily matter.
What I’ve found is that the same logic I use for running an efficient trapline on public land applies to efficient deer hunting, too. You don’t need access to your target’s destination to be successful; you don’t even need to know what that is or where. You just need one good spot to ambush them along the way.
Don’t discount those tiny slivers of public land other whitetail hunters will ignore because they don’t have traditional food or bedding. The deer you’re looking for just might be in there. Trust the evidence of their movement across the landscape, and set your trap.
Hard Truths about TimingAlthough trapping requires a lot of hard work and time in the field, the payoff happens while I’m not around. That gives me some flexibility to roll out a little later on cold days or right before a big front when the fur might still be moving well into daylight.
If you’ve been hunting whitetails long enough and are being honest with yourself, you’ve probably convinced yourself to cut at least one sit short because your toes were frozen and you hadn’t seen a single deer. I’ll be the first to admit I have a tendency to give in to my antsy side, but I lost count of the number of times I pulled up to my trapline after 9:30 in the morning this season only to see deer still foraging slowly across wide-open swaths of public land.
It’s a hard kick in the rear since we all want to think deer are reluctant to daylight by the bitter cold late season after months of hunting pressure. But that’s just not the case. So, if you still have a tag to punch come December or January, layer up, bring a big stack of hand warmers, and settle in for a long morning sit.
The Daily GrindWhitetail hunters are almost all guilty of using some excuse to skip a sit. It’s too hot, too windy, the moon is wrong, or public land is too crowded, so why bother? There are no dire consequences if you decide to lounge around when you could be hunting, but trapping doesn’t offer that luxury.
Like most states, Kansas requires trappers to check their sets daily. So it doesn’t matter if the weather sucks or I have the sniffles—if I have a line open, I’m in the field every single day until I close it. And since trapping is largely a game of precision, I’m automatically more in tune with overnight changes in the landscape and how animals are moving on it.
Even though I’m not actively scouting for whitetails while I run my line, I’ll inevitably spot some or find fresh sign. That intel, combined with the sheer discipline of getting my butt out the door every day, gave me everything I needed to tag out with a beautiful buck and a huge doe this season. If there’s a better way to improve as a public hunter than just being in the field consistently, I haven’t found it yet.
Does the grind have to be daily to fill your next tag on public land? Probably not. But the lesson still stands; if you want to know what the deer are doing today and be better prepared for what they might be doing tomorrow, you just need to be there.
It’s a near-constant drumbeat in many hunting circles. The public land is just too crowded. It’s a blanket statement tossed around, at least partially, to blame folks like me for promoting public land whitetail hunting too much. It’s also a good statement to use if you want to explain away how you didn’t fill a tag last year.
It’s also, in some areas, true.
At least at certain points of the season, it’s true. But overcrowding is subjective. The hunter unwilling to put in a whole lot of effort might find that it’s pretty easy to believe the woods are overcrowded. The same goes for the hunter who only wants to hunt one parcel or one part of a single parcel. To that hunter, a couple more trucks in the parking lot might be way too much pressure in his spot.
The truth is, if you’re a public land whitetail hunter, you have to work with the pressure, or you’ll find yourself totally overwhelmed. It’s one of those things that is a pretty simple concept, but that doesn’t make it easy.
Timing Is, Literally, EverythingEvery whitetail hunter wants time in the woods during the pre-rut and the rut. Because of this, a huge percentage of whitetail hunters spend most of their time in the woods during about a three-week window.
I saw this firsthand last year when I drew an Iowa tag for a so-so zone. I hunted only public land during the middle of October. I saw plenty of stands and blinds in the woods and enough trucks parked on the side of the road to force me to switch up my plans several times. Not so many that it was a lost cause, though, and one little concentration of river-bottom activity kept me on my toes until I arrowed an eight-pointer as he walked up to sniff my decoy.
A good buddy of mine also drew that tag, and he stayed to hunt after I left. Every day, as October inched toward November, he texted me updates. As you can imagine, the pressure increased daily, and exponentially on the weekend.
The thing about public land whitetails is that people want to hunt them like they’re on a private-land hunter’s schedule. If you only hunt a few weekends around the rut, you’re going to believe the deer woods are too crowded because that will be your experience. But you’re not entitled to an amazing rut hunt just because you want it. Putting in effort when others won’t be there, when conventional deer wisdom says it won’t be as good, is the best way I’ve ever found to have productive hunts on public.
Sure, I’d love to see that chase-fest all day long while not worrying about sharing the woods with every other licensed hunter in the county, but that’s not in the cards. I’d also rather have productive hunts whenever I can get them than fight the crowds for a prime-time sit.
Backup Your BackupsI’m a firm believer in winter scouting. I think March is the best time to find fall ambush sites, and would rate my time poking around on public right now as more valuable than any other scouting I do all year long.
This is because I can’t stomach not having lots of stand-site options because I know that it’s very likely, on any given hunt, that someone will be in a spot I’d like to sit. It’s just part of the game as a public land hunter.
Two seasons ago, while filming a Rough Cuts episode with Steve Rinella, I bumped into this problem. While I had scouted my ass off in the Oklahoma sun for a few days, I only found one real concentration of deer. I found several so-so spots as well, so I had backups. None of them were humming with deer activity like the small area we managed to kill three bucks in, though.
On the second day of our four-day hunt, we drove out to sit that spot, but there were two guys walking in with climbers on their backs. There was no real way to follow them in without screwing up their hunt, and that’s not really my style, so I went to a backup spot.
The sinking feeling of knowing we were relying almost solely on one tiny acorn-, and persimmon-filled dry creekbed was a good reminder to keep looking. And that having backup spots to your backup spots is the best way to ensure that no matter how crowded things get, you can always head to a spot where you have some level of confidence. That’s so important.
ConclusionIn some regions, at certain times of the season, public land can absolutely be overcrowded. Acknowledge that now, plan your season to take advantage of the times when most folks won’t go, and start scouting. The more spots you have to default to when the pickups show up, the less likely you are to declare the whole thing a lost cause.
Texas game wardens announced yesterday that 22 suspects have been charged with 1,200 violations related to illegal whitetail smuggling and black-market wildlife trade.
The smuggling operation encompassed three deer breeding facilities, ten release sites, one deer management pen, and three illegal, unregistered facilities. The smugglers and illegal breeders are accused of poaching wild deer to replace their own, falsifying mandatory CWD tests, and transporting potentially contagious deer across the state without the proper paperwork.
"These individuals and ranches operated with impunity, repeatedly violating established laws designed to protect Texas’ natural resources and safeguard the state’s wildlife against disease transmission," said Col. Ronald VanderRoest, Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) law enforcement director. "Systematic abuse of the regulatory framework governing the deer breeding industry will not be tolerated as we focus on our mission of conservation law enforcement."
The deer breeding industry in Texas generates revenue by breeding pen-raised deer for desirable traits like large antlers and then releasing those deer onto hunting ranches. Sometimes, those ranches are on the same property as the breeding facility, but oftentimes, deer are shipped back and forth across the state.
Breeders are tightly regulated to avoid moving deer that might spread CWD to other parts of the state. This illegal operation was apparently designed to flout those regulations.
“Without close monitoring, illegal movement of captive deer increases the risk of introducing CWD to areas it is not known to exist, potentially leading to widespread outbreaks which will impact more than just the health of Texas deer,” reads the TPWD press release.
Texas Parks and Wildlife did not release the names of the suspects or the location of the breeding facilities, citing the “ongoing nature of the case” in an email to MeatEater. But a press release published by the agency suggests a massive operation aimed at selling and moving potentially CWD-positive deer across the state.
The case began when a Montgomery County game warden conducted a traffic stop and discovered illegally possessed deer being transported without required documentation or identification.
That case resulted in the conviction of a South Texas deer breeder and his business partner who were trying to smuggle seven deer from a licensed deer breeding facility in East Texas to Brazoria and Duval counties. There, they intended to illegally release the deer into the wild on private property.
That initial bust opened a window into a larger deer smuggling network. The investigation uncovered approximately 500 Class C charges, 700 Class B charges, 22 Class A charges, and multiple state jail felony charges.
Class A, B, and C charges are misdemeanors. Class A charges are the most severe and carry a maximum penalty of one year in a county jail and a $4,000 fine. State jail charges are felonies and carry a maximum penalty of two years in a state jail and fines of up to $10,000.
Officials have not released the details of this smuggling operation, but the charges offer clues about what kinds of actions the group engaged in.
Some of the Class C charges, for example, involve transporting deer without valid antemortem CWD tests. Other charges stem from failing to report dead deer within the required seven-day time period and illegally selling and purchasing wild white-tailed deer.
One description of a Class C charge suggests that some of the suspects hunted wild, free-ranging deer out of season and submitted tissue samples from those deer in place of captive deer. In other words, they’ve been accused of stealing deer from the public and using those animals to avoid being held accountable for the CWD in their pen-raised facility.
Some of the Class B charges stem from replacing dead captive deer with live wild deer within the breeding facility and releasing those wild deer for hunting. They’re also accused of trapping previously released wild deer and reselling them.
The state jail felony charges aren’t related to wildlife crimes, per se. Instead, these are for falsifying documents related to tissue samples, tag swapping between breeder deer, and swapping tags between breeder deer and replacement deer captured in the wild. “Tag” in this case, refers not to hunting tags but to the ear tags breeders are required to affix to a captive deer’s ear.
“These violations don’t just break the law—they undermine the very foundation of responsible wildlife management in Texas,” VanderRoest said. “An operation of this size and scope did not develop overnight and the widespread violations may have continued unchecked, posing an even greater threat to Texas’ deer populations and the integrity of the deer breeding industry.”
Feature image via TPWD.
Last winter, at least in the Upper Midwest where I live, was dreamy. If you’re not passionate about sledding or building snowmen, it was dreamy anyway. We didn’t get any real snow to speak of, and for me, that meant I had a lot of time to work on my small deer properties.
Every other week, I drove across the river into Wisconsin to work on my ground. I got a lot done, but that opportunity was an outlier and not the rule. This year, real winter returned. The opportunities to chip away at my various habitat projects have been put on hold, but the minute we get some real thawing going on, I’ll be back over there.
There are two things I know that are guaranteed to happen when I do make it back into the woods. I won’t get as much finished as I want, but what I do get accomplished will help me and my daughters kill more deer. This is a lesson I’ve learned after years of trying to make incremental improvements to small parcels.
You don’t have to rent a bulldozer for the day or severely alter the landscape to make your piece more suitable for whitetails. You just have to tackle some simple improvements, which are feasible for just about anyone.
Put Your Saws To Work Last year, I wanted to improve two things on a 30-acre piece of land I own: expanding a small kill plot and cutting an access route to a corner of the land I wanted to hunt. The kill plot expansion was an attempt to address the fact that whenever my daughters can hunt in the early season, we often deal with south or west winds.
My original plot allows for some setups for those winds, but it can be fickle. I wanted to give us another option, so I cut a 30-yard trail off the first plot and cleared out a smaller secondary plot. It took me two days with a brush cutter and a chainsaw, but it changed the arc of our season last year.
Not only did we have a better situation to sit during north winds, but I also accidentally created a perfect bear bait site. This paid off when one of my daughters arrowed a decent bruin in early September, and it was made possible by two partial days of sweat equity.
The access trail I cut to the corner, didn’t help me kill a buck. But it did help me hunt that spot and figure out how I can probably kill a cruiser on the edge of the swamp next year. Cutting some brush for a plot, or creating access trails is simple stuff, but important. It’s also generally pretty easy.
Waterholes Because my daughters often hunt the early season, we tend to deal with warmer weather. This means that water is key, but that property doesn’t have any water sources. What’s worse, the neighbors on all sides, do.
Just before turkey season last year, I carried in a shovel and some pond liner material, and went to work. It wasn’t as easy as I hoped due to about a million tree roots and some pretty rocky soil, but by the time I was finished I had a small pond set up 20 yards from our favorite blind.
The deer go through there anyway, but now we have an added attraction. I don’t remember what the materials cost me, but it wasn’t more than what I spend taking my family of four out to eat at a chain restaurant. I’ve tried ornamental ponds in the past, along with just burying plastic totes, but the pond liner option is my favorite. It allows me to shape a water hole exactly how I want it.
This is about as easy of an improvement to your property that you can make, and all whitetails share the same trait that if they don’t get water, they will predictably, die.
Apple TreesI honestly don’t know if I’ve ever killed a deer specifically because it came to an apple tree. I certainly have tried, though. I also just like having fruit-bearing trees on my ground. A lot of critters will eat apples, and while you can go nuts with pears, or persimmons, or chestnuts, or whatever, apples are universally loved by deer.
There are also dozens of different types that thrive in a variety of different environments. While you might need to cage them to keep critters away, which can add some expense and extra work, there is just something cool about planting a few apple trees every spring on your deer ground.
This is a long-game strategy that might not pay off for several seasons, but it’s generally pretty cheap, is fairly easy especially when compared to building and planting food plots, and can eventually turn into a real deer draw.
It doesn’t take long to browse YouTube before you find that there’s an unlimited amount of hunting content. For better or worse, you don’t have to be a pro to upload your hunting adventures. You can watch everything from seasoned hunters, like the Element crew, chase big bucks across the country to weekend warriors shooting their first GoPro hunts.
Regardless of content quality, that endless stream of hunting media has conditioned hunters to have unrealistic expectations about travel hunting, especially on public land. Twenty-minute highlight reels make it seem like travel hunting is as easy as buying your tags and hitting the road. But, if you’ve travel hunted any distance, you know this is hardly the case.
The Element crew earns a living by shooting big bucks on the road (not literally, of course), so I spoke with Tyler Jones to help highlight some of the biggest misconceptions surrounding travel hunting whitetails on public land. He even highlighted some of his own struggles this past season while he hunted North Dakota, a new state for him.
“I’d never hunted North Dakota before,” Tyler said. “It’s a long way from Texas, but tags aren’t too expensive, and there’s a ton of public land. I picked a landlocked spot that looked great on the map, and I took a kayak and inflatable raft to float the river. It just looked like a great spot to kill a deer, and I was confident in it.”
Tyler’s statement felt all too familiar, something most public land hunters can relate to: e-scouting a spot that promises to fulfill big buck dreams. Unfortunately, it didn’t play out that way.
“Everything you can imagine went wrong,” he said. “When we got to the river, I realized the kayak wouldn’t hold me and my cameraman because the water levels were so low. Once we arrived at the spot, we were eaten alive by mosquitos, and a group of does busted us at prime time. I was over-zealous on this new trip, and it whipped my tail.”
MisconceptionsTyler’s troubles didn’t just stop with the North Dakota trip, though. While he had some close encounters throughout the early season, he didn’t kill a buck until November 2. Again, Tyler earns a living making hunting content. It’s his job. So he probably hunts more in October than most people hunt in an entire season. Most folks are lucky to have 15 sits in a season. For reference, Tyler not shooting a buck until November 2 almost equates to a weekend warrior going two full deer seasons without killing a deer. But most hunters don’t consider this fact when they compare their success (or lack thereof) to influencers or media hunters.
Hunting can feel like a solo endeavor a lot of the time. However, Tyler credited the Element crew’s teamwork to their success.
“Most people hunt by themselves, so they only have their intel informing them,” he said. “We typically hunt together, so we have an exponentially greater chance because we can share info, whereas one hunter might go to an area and think they're hunting a desert because they don’t see anything. The trick is to go with one or two buddies whose skills you trust and help each other.”
Travel Hunting is Downright ToughThere’s an obvious physical demand that comes with travel hunting, even for whitetails. Sure, it’s no backcountry hunt, but it still requires a solid level of physical fitness and awareness, and that includes good sleep.
“A lot of people underestimate good sleep,” Tyler said. “If you don’t get good sleep, you’re wasting your time and money. When we’re on the road, most of us are typically in bed by eight o’clock. If you’re tired and groggy in the morning, you’re more likely to sleep in, get to your spots late, or just make poor decisions in general. It’s also a lot harder to be optimistic when you’re running on fumes. If you can swing it, sleep in a hotel.”
Aside from a good night’s sleep, Tyler emphasized optimism as a driving force behind their success. He stressed that optimism, or the lack thereof, can dictate the outcome of your hunt.
“If you’re not optimistic, you probably won’t spend a ton of time glassing or checking out a spot that’s far from the road,” he said. “All these little decisions add up when you’re hunting, and when you’re not optimistic, you won’t put in the effort.”
Tyler acknowledged that most of the time travel hunting is work; fun, but still work. We also talked about the psychological/mental demands of travel hunting. Like a lot of hunters, Tyler has a family, so fall traveling means he typically misses some family sporting events. Most hunters don’t have to worry about travel hunting the entire fall, but even guilt from seven-day trips away from your kids can start to eat at you, especially if you’re struggling to find success.
Manage Your ExpectationsI asked Tyler his main advice for hunters considering a travel hunt in the near future, and I appreciated his blunt response.
“I think you should expect to eat your tag if you’re travel hunting to a new state, depending on your expectations” he said. “There’s only so much you can learn about an area in five to seven days. Sometimes it takes us two to three years of hunting an area to somewhat understand it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be successful either. What’s the smallest buck you’ll shoot? Are you okay with eating a $500 tag? These are all questions everyone has to consider.”
This might seem to contradict Tyler’s statement about optimism, but it’s more about setting appropriate expectations and accepting the outcome after you’ve given an earnest effort. Tyler admitted that failure happens to everyone at some point, but stressed that it’s how you deal with failure that determines whether or not you experience success on your first or fifth travel hunts.
“Hunters have to understand that most people fail when they do this (travel hunt),” he said. “When I fail, I ask myself, ‘Why?’ And I try to learn from those mistakes. You have to see those failures as learning opportunities. If you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, then you’ll learn all the time.”
Rather than shirking away from failure, Tyler sees it as imminent. He doesn’t look for it around every corner but deals with it head-on when it comes. Painful as failures are, Tyler told me he sees them as part of divine sovereignty that’s shaped who he is as a hunter and person. If you can be optimistic in the midst of failure, you should have no issue with travel hunting.
Like the UFO poster hanging in agent Fox Mulder’s office states, I want to believe…that maybe the moon and deer movement are connected. Personally, I’ve never considered moon phase when hunting, but I know plenty of hunters who live and die by the moon phase and position.
The theory that moon phase and position somehow affect buck movement has permeated our modern hunting culture for decades. In fact, hunters of all calibers (old school, newbies, and consistent big-buck killers) are all susceptible to this line of reasoning. After all, it’s hard to argue with a guy who has more bone on his wall than most folks have in their bodies. But does the moon actually get big bucks on their feet?
A recent study from the MSU Deer Lab at Mississippi State University might have solved the ongoing mystery surrounding these lunar theories. The paper version of this study won’t be available for another month or so (we’ll link it here when it is published), but you can watch the team at MSU Deer Lab break down their extensive study on YouTube, which I would encourage you to do. Otherwise, here’s a rundown of what they discovered.
Study ParametersThe team at MSU Deer Lab (Natasha Neary PhD, Luke Resop, Dr. Steve Demarais, and Dr. Bronson Strickland) sought to find a definitive answer regarding the question of how the moon phase and/or position affects deer movement. They not only looked at the moon phase but moon position (overhead, underfoot), which plenty of hunters insist matters even more than the phase.
“Essentially, we’ve got two phenomena we’re working with,” Dr. Strickland said, “the luminosity from the phase and the position and its assumed effect on gravitational pull on deer, which either may stimulate or suppress movement.”
In other words, Dr. Strickland summarizes what hunters imply, even if they don’t realize it. When hunters claim that the moon has an effect on buck movement, they are suggesting that the brightness of the moon and its gravitational pull either hinder or increase deer movement.
For instance, one common theory surrounding buck movement and the full moon suggests that because a full moon provides more light, deer see better and thus become more active at night, leading to decreased activity or more bedding during the day. The opposite goes for a new moon, i.e. less light leads to less nighttime movement and more daytime activity.
Dr. Strickland noted that one of the challenges with this study is that some hypotheses about the moon and deer movement might correlate to a certain moon phase. In other words, someone might see—or not see—a ton of deer movement on a full moon. This anecdotal experience might lead to confirmation bias, i.e., I shoot a buck on a full moon, which means that the two must be related. In reality, these instances are a matter of correlation, not causation. Dr. Strickland equated it to rolling dice. You’ll eventually roll double sixes, but just because you’re wearing your red shirt while you do it doesn’t mean the two are related.
The Survey PoolTo narrow down the specific question they wanted to address, the team surveyed hunters (about 1,400 respondents) about theories on the relationship between moon phase/position and deer movement.
They started the survey with a simple “Yes” or “No” question: Do you believe the moon has some sort of effect on deer activity? Of those roughly 1,400 respondents, 83% said “Yes.” If a respondent answered “No” the survey simply ended. So the percentages that follow apply to the 83% that answered “Yes.” Of those that believed the moon has some effect, 25% believe only moon phase affects buck movement but not moon position, while 13 % believe only moon position affects buck movement, and the remaining 45% believe that some combination of moon phase and position affect buck movement.
Of the same 83% that said the moon has some effect on deer movement, 85% say that the moon phase/position would increase a buck’s yards traveled per hour. Similarly, 76% also believe moon phase position affects a buck’s bedding time, and 81% believe that moon phase/position affects what time a buck leaves their last afternoon bed, which the team analyzed.
The team also asked hunters how many yards per hour they believed the moon phase to affect deer movement. Hunters believed a significant change would show an increase of at least 50 yards per hour in buck movement rates or a decrease on “bad” moon days. Regarding time spent bedded, hunters said that a time of at least 30 minutes less spent bedded was also significant. Last, hunters believed if a buck left his last afternoon bed prior to sunset that would also demonstrate a meaningful change.
TrackingThe theories, based on hunters’ responses, provided a framework of questions for the team to address in their study, which they did by tracking 48 collared bucks, many of which were mature, from September 1 to February 28 in Mississippi.
Natasha Neary tracked yards traveled per hour on all the bucks throughout an entire deer season during legal shooting hours to see if moon position or phase impacted buck travel. It’s important to emphasize the legal shooting hours parameter, since it’s the timeframe that’s actually beneficial to hunters.
First, we need to take a step back and look at deer movement in general. For context, Neary noted that over an entire season, bucks averaged about 265 yards of travel per hour and were bedded 34% of legal shooting hours. Outside of the rut, bucks traveled an average of 219 yards per hour and bedded 38% of daylight hours. However, during the peak rut, bucks traveled on average 400 yards per hour and bedded 23% of legal shooting hours. That means that bucks (on average) travel nearly twice as far per hour during shooting hours in the peak rut.
Dr. Strickland emphasized these data points because they are significant enough that we can see a tangible event like the rut directly affect buck movement, unlike theories surrounding the moon phase/position. The buck movement from the rut drastically contrasts the data from buck movement regarding moon phase. The yards traveled per hour almost doubled during the rut, while the time bedded decreased by 11%. These are significant changes prompted by the rut. Travel and bedding times related to the moon don’t even come close.
For deer movement related to the moon phase and position, the team calculated buck activity by looking at yards traveled per hour, bedding and leaving times, and the time bedded percentage. To record any differences in buck movement, they tracked variances in movement based on a two-week window of buck movement. The team then used the Solunar calendar’s rating system of 1-4 (worst to best) based on the percentages of new/full moon. So, a day rate of 4 would be the best day to hunt (if you believe in the solunar theory).
Results: The moon has no effect on buck movement.
Remember, of the hunters who believe the moon affects deer movement, most said that the moon phase/position should produce, at minimum, a significant change of bucks moving 50 yards per hour during shooting hours, and at least a half hour earlier from their last evening bed (before sunset).
It’s also worth noting that the GPS collars give a reading every 15 minutes, and that there could be a 10- to 15-yard difference in a buck’s actual position. If you want to look at a breakdown of buck travel in moon phase only, buck travel in moon position only, and buck travel in a combination of phase and position, you can listen to or watch the podcast. For the sake of brevity, here’s what they found:
On a day rate of 4 (the best) during a major window with a full moon, the team saw an increase of 4 yards per hour movement and essentially no change in bedding time. For minor times, the numbers are even smaller, with little to no change in bedding time. In fact, the strongest examples the team found were a few outliers, which included an 18-minute difference in a bedding time and a 10-yard increase per hour in movement. These were random observations at best. Again, there’s a possible 10- to 15-yard discrepancy in the GPS location, so these insignificant changes probably represent a number closer to zero.
There was also an inconsistent correlation between travel and bedding distance/times. One thing Neary pointed out is that if moon phase and position do have an effect on buck movement, then you should be able to observe a consistent pattern that includes an increase in buck movement and a simultaneous decrease in bedding and vice versa. However, that’s not what the data showed.
The changes in movement/beddings are so insignificant that most of the changes actually reflect zero. Luke Resop, a PhD student and team member who worked on this study, stated that this is essentially the data you expect to see when there’s no effect in a study. Basically, there’s no conclusive data to support a relationship between moon phase/position and buck movement. Dr. Strickland noted that the differences were “trivial” at best.
What Does It Mean for Hunters?For starters, you can throw away that lunar calendar. Or keep it if you’re into relics and whatnot. Some bow hunters might be tempted to read some of these data points as significant, especially those who hunt close to bedding. But we’re talking about an extra four yards per hour in movement, and that’s if those data points aren’t just from discrepancies in the GPS readings. Unless you’re right on top of the deer, it’s not significant enough to matter.
Again, it’s important to remember that just because you do or don’t see deer on a certain moon phase or position doesn’t mean that it confirms those Solunar theories.
Regarding anecdata, Resop made a great point that, “we often ignore observations that contradict the patterns we believe exist.” In other words, you might ignore the fact that you killed a shooter buck on a full moon (a bad moon day), but you quickly double down on your theory when you don’t see deer. It’s a classic case of confirmation bias that many hunters, myself included, can fall into.
Even if you’ve hunted by moon phase and position in the past, this study should come as a relief. No, you don’t have to plan your hunting days around the moon, and statistically, the rut still gives hunters the best chance to shoot a cruising buck. If you still want to believe that the moon holds some magical power over deer movement, I guess there’s nothing wrong with that. For the rest of us, we’ll be in the woods.
For most hunters, February marks a definitive end to deer season and likely a welcomed break. Unless you plan to post-season scout, take down trail cams, or join the increasingly popular shed hunting community. February, for me at least, serves as a reminder that the work of deer hunting extends beyond the official seasons. For better or worse, my wife has also come to this realization.
As a certified weekend warrior, I already struggle to find time to hunt during the season. While my wife is more than gracious when it comes to my hunting pursuits, it’s not exactly easy (or fair) to dedicate a month’s worth of weekends to shed hunting and post-season scouting after she spent her fall and winter Saturdays chasing toddlers.
So, if I only have a couple of days in February, I know post-season scouting will serve me better next season than a few dedicated shed hunts will. And here’s a secret: I almost always find a shed when I’m post-season scouting. If you’re already limited on time, here are a few reasons to prioritize post-season scouting, which might just reward you with a couple of shed antlers.
Byproduct EffectI mentioned that I almost always find a shed when I’m post-season scouting, which I attribute to scouting the places I expect bucks to frequent. Rather than focusing my efforts on finding sheds, I’m more interested in finding spots where I can hunt next season.
If I happen to find a shed, it only boosts my confidence and affirms my theory about a certain area. Maybe I’m just tricking my subconscious, but there’s no disappointment when I don’t find a shed, and I’m just as pumped to find other deer sign and walk away “empty-handed.”
The truth is, if you’re scouting the right places, you’ll probably find a shed as a byproduct. But even if you don’t, that doesn’t mean the intel you’ve gleaned from a scouting trip won’t help you punch a tag next season.
Post Season Scouting Is More Beneficial Than Shed HuntingEven if you’re successful grid searching a cut cornfield or food plot for a monster shed, that doesn’t really tell you anything other than a buck visited it. Besides, you probably have enough nighttime trail camera photos to tell you that much.
If you’ve got the time or extra evenings to comb a field for sheds, knock yourself out. For those that only have a few days, you’re not going to learn much that you don’t already know by walking that food plot.
Instead, backtrack trails and buck sign to the cover. Look for creek, river, or fence crossings that provide natural travel corridors, where you might hang a stand come August. These are also natural spots to find sheds, as deer are likely to drop their antlers while jumping a fence or climbing a creek bank.
Focus your attention on soft edges, too. Bucks are more likely to travel in these places during shooting hours. Soft edges hold more screening cover, so bucks feel more comfortable traveling through them.
Last year, I scouted a hardwood river bottom that bordered a bedding area. That thicket transitioned to a privet hedge that provided travel cover. I followed a trail through that cover that had not one, but two sheds within 100 yards of each other. Not only did I find a couple of sheds, but I also found a great early-season spot to hunt with access from the river. I don’t know that I would have scored as much, had I only been focused on sheds.
Shed Your ExpectationsDon’t get me wrong, sheds are cool and exciting to find, but I’d much rather have a pile of antlers in my garage from deer I’ve shot. Besides, you’re not guaranteed to find a shed just because you cover a ton of ground. The odds suggest you’re more likely to find a potential hunting spot for next season than a pristine shed from a booner.
If those are your expectations, get ready for disappointment. I’ve never been deflated after finding mega rubs or huge tracks. I can’t say the same for going home empty-handed after a shed hunt. If you’re pushed for time, focus on scouting for next season and enjoy the sheds when you do find them; they’ll be a welcome bonus.
Post-season reflection isn’t just about missed opportunities, but it’s a great time to evaluate your hunting setup, too. Improving your hunting skills requires learning from your mistakes and making changes next season so you don’t repeat them. This includes your hunting gear. Just like you might drop or add certain hunting techniques and strategies, you’ll also know which gear stays and which gear needs to go to eBay or the dump.
As someone who’s made a living writing about hunting gear specifically, I’m constantly swapping items in and out of my hunting pack or putting them through the rigors. Sure, there are some mainstays that I don’t hit the woods without, but it doesn’t take long for me to realize that most of the stuff I carry isn’t necessary. This isn’t necessarily a reflection of the product itself but more of a “fit” issue (i.e., does it work for my hunting strategy).
Paradoxical as it might seem, I’m actually a minimalist at heart. Sure, I love new hunting products, but the more I progress as a hunter, the less I want to carry in the woods. In fact, I’m sometimes annoyed at how much stuff I take into the woods. I’d much rather walk in with nothing but my bow or rifle and hunt from the ground than carry a hunting pack with a day’s worth of gear.
Of course, I usually end up opting for a happy medium, but it’s required a good bit of trial and error. While you’ll have to figure out what works for your situation, this guide might shortcut the process for you, so here are a few ways to evaluate your gear setup moving forward.
What Works For YouHow and where you hunt plays a large role in how much gear you carry into the woods. If you mainly hunt private land, you have the option to use preset stands. Unless you decide to move stands or make an adjustment, you won’t have to worry about carrying sticks and a stand or platform on your back. Public land hunters (for the most part) have the convenient headache of hang and hunts, which typically requires more gear unless you’re hunting from the ground.
Speaking of hunting from the ground, if you want to ditch your treestand or saddle and deer hunt at eye level, I can’t think of a better way to lighten your load. Even if you plan to stay in the woods all day, you can get away with a small day pack and a solid pair of pants that has several pockets (I prefer First Lite’s Corrugate Foundry pants). Most hunters will take a midday break back at deer camp or the truck, which means you won’t need much more than your bow or rifle and a solid hunting knife.
Since most hunters run some type of bino harness, you can even rig it out with a few extra pockets if you want more storage. If I’m hunting from the ground and changing spots midday, I’ll typically just use storage space from my pockets. When I commit to a full day in the woods or a deep spot on public, I’ll either use a small hunting pack or a fanny pack. Even then, I only tote a headlamp, knife, and game bags if I take a pack.
Less is MoreFor hunters who wouldn’t dream of leaving the tree, there’s always room to make your gear setup more efficient. I spend a lot of time in the tree saddle, and while I appreciate the convenience it offers, its mobile-friendly nature makes it easy to fall down the rabbit hole of saddle accessories. This includes pouches, back slings, gear ties, gear straps for the tree, you name it. Pretty soon, that one-pound saddle turns to several and you might as well carry a lightweight treestand by that time you add the extra bulk and weight.
Instead of loading yourself down with a department store worth of accessories, determine what gear is necessary for your setup. Do you really need a back sling or extra pouches? A great way to streamline your setup is to consider which items you actually use. I have a rule that if I didn’t use an item on my last three hunts, then it comes out of my pack. I’m not talking about first aid kits, extra headlamps, or batteries. Those should be staples in your pack. However, you can probably leave those extra calls, 30-foot paracord, and waterproof matches at home. After all, you’re whitetail hunting and probably within earshot of a road.
Whitetail hunting adopted the lightweight fascination from the Western crowd. While it often gets overemphasized, I do think hunters have benefited from manufacturers creating lightweight gear. Climbing sticks are a great example of this. If you’ve been lugging around four or five sticks, each weighing two-pounds, and are looking to trim some weight, consider splurging on a few lightweight (one-pound) sticks and using aiders.
This past season, I ran two Lone Wolf Custom Gear Micro Doubles with 20-inch cable aiders. This setup is enough to reach 12 feet, depending on how high you place the first step, and it came in at just over two pounds. Not to mention, two steps take up a lot less space than four. Of course, you could always use the one-stick method to dial this even further.
Lighten the LoadI’m constantly reevaluating my gear setup, and you’ll have to do the same. If you’re okay with hauling around a ton of gear, go for it. For hunters who need to simplify their setup (we all probably should), this should give you an idea of how to think about what gear you absolutely need. Besides, simplicity isn’t just for the deer woods. It’s a good practice in general.
Hunting hill country or mountainous areas presents its own set of challenges. However, the terrain at least provides a starting point that flatlands don’t give up so easily. Saddles, benches, or drainages typically stand out on a map. Subtle terrain features and soft edges don’t.
The lack of terrain and monotonous habitat, especially in the big woods, can be intimidating when you’re e-scouting. Unless you’re working with hard edges, you’ll have to get some boots on the ground to dissect the landscape and find deer. As a bonafide flatlander, I’m reminded every season by that monotonous habitat why I’m a meat hunter.
While hunting flatland might make you reconsider hunting altogether, it can provide some of the most rewarding hunting experiences on public land. Here are a few tips on how to find deer in flatland.
Find A Starting PointE-scouting provides a great launchpad, but that’s about as far as it takes you in flatland. Sure, you could pick a spot and go in blind, but your chances of killing a deer that way are pretty slim. Still, you’ll need to find somewhere to start, and you can certainly do that from a screen.
When you approach a new piece of ground, look for anything that stands out on the map. Hard edges like property lines, private field edges, clear cuts, sloughs, or old oxbows are a great place to start. If you know what to look for, you can also spot habitat transitions like hardwoods/pines that are either drastic or subtle. You’ll need to actually scout these places, which will help you find the edges or terrain features that don’t show on the map.
Soft EdgesThe big woods might seem like one giant forest on the map, but tons of habitat edges lie underneath the canopy. Hard edges where a forest meets a field edge are easy to spot. Soft edges like old-growth pines with a privet thicket underneath them require further inspection.
Deer will travel, feed, and bed in and along these soft edges. In river bottoms, look for large canebrakes. I’ve seen deer bed in small cane patches that were a few feet high, and I’ve seen them emerge from large canebrakes that were well over head-high.
Anywhere a disturbance occurs in the canopy, you can bet there’s some type of growth happening there. A concentration of young saplings, palmetto flats, canebrakes, briar patches, etc., all make great soft edges. These soft edges provide screening cover that makes deer feel secure, so it’s no surprise that you find a concentration of sign in these areas.
If you can find a subtle and feathered transition (where large hardwoods transition to smaller hardwoods that transition to pines or some type of screening cover) leading from a bedding area, that’s a spot that deserves an observation sit. Again, these edges don’t jump off the map. It’s up to you to find them.
Subtle Terrain FeaturesFlat as terrain might look on a computer screen, that’s hardly the case in person. Unless you’re using a mapping system with lidar, you’ll be surprised at how much the terrain varies in these “flat” spots. Old logging ramps, abandoned railroads, mounds, ditches, old river cuts, and high spots just don’t show up on a lot of maps. Again, this is where actual scouting comes into play. Anytime I find these subtle terrain features, there are almost always deer sign like trails, scrapes, or rubs on or around them.
In flat river bottom country, deer will travel and bed along micro ridges, which are old cuts left from the river. Depending on the cover, these can provide excellent travel corridors, especially for bucks. A quick scan with onX might not reveal this, but a lidar map can expose these subtle terrain variances.
Creek/River CrossingsLarge creeks or rivers provide focal points for deer to travel on the landscape. That’s why, at least in flatland, you typically find large concentrations of trails and rubs right next to the banks. Most of the signpost rubs that I locate typically occur at or just before a major creek crossing (usually where the river bends). Distance to the nearest bedding cover will dictate what time of day/night deer most use a particular crossing. If you’re within 150 yards of bedding, you’re probably close to the X. Anything beyond that probably suggests nighttime travel unless you’re hunting the rut.
You’ll also want to consider the number of tracks and the feasibility of the crossing as well. If the banks are steep and it’s the only suitable place for the deer to cross for a few hundred yards, then there’s a great chance that the deer have to go through that spot. If the banks are only a few feet high or they have subtle slopes, the deer probably have numerous places they can cross.
The number of tracks should give you the best indication about a crossing. But don’t just look for quantity. Look for a variance in track sizes, too. Sometimes, tracks can be misleading, but if you’re after a big buck, look for big tracks.
DeadfallIn flatland where large bedding areas transition to old-growth timber, travel might seem completely random. In these instances, huge fallen trees can dictate deer traffic.
If you’re hunting a travel corridor and trying to find a spot within bow range, these blowdowns can create natural funnels for close-quarter setups. Look for trails that skirt just around the tops or bottoms of these blowdowns. Deer prefer the path of least resistance, so if a huge tree falls over a trail, they’ll simply skirt around it.
An Education Worth LearningI know hunters who avoid these types of flat, big wood areas like the plague. I typically have some type of midseason reckoning (usually when I’m struggling) where I swear off these places, too.
There’s nothing easy about hunting flatland. It has a knack for humbling most hunters. But when you do manage to experience success, even if that’s just seeing a deer take the trail you guessed, boy, does it feel good. And, yes, it’s enough to keep you coming back.
When you think about the rut, still-hunting probably doesn’t pop into your head. All-day sits, setting up downwind of doe bedding, or hanging in a funnel usually top the list of rut-hunting tactics. If you’ve done your homework and put the time in, you’ll probably have a decent shot at shooting a buck.
But what if all-day sits just don’t interest you, or you’re hunting somewhere new? Those all-day sits won’t do you any good if you’re hunting a deer desert. Success during the rut usually comes down to finding the deer, and still-hunting can help you do that.
I’m not suggesting that you should completely abandon your treestands or saddles, but a day or two on the ground can help you finetune your setup if you’re struggling to locate deer. If you’re new to still-hunting, you can read a deeper dive here. Otherwise, here are a few approaches to still-hunting during the rut
Find the Freshest SignEven the best plans can fall apart when the rut hits. Sure, there might be a few spots you hunt that lend themselves to annual success, but that’s not always the case. If you’ve burned a day or two on a spot where you’ve seen minimal action, it’s time to change course. Rather than waste any more of your rutcation, your best bet is to scout until you find the deer. Still-hunting is one of the best ways to do this. After all, it’s the rut, and anything can happen.
If you’re starting from scratch, start with a large chunk of public and work through it with the wind in your face. I’d also look for a piece of ground that didn’t have a ton of cars crowding the parking lot. I wouldn’t worry about keying on big rubs, and I would only set up near a community scrape if it had been worked within the last twenty-four hours.
Instead, look for fresh tracks or listen for deer running through the woods. During this part of the rut, deer are so focused on chasing, covering ground, etc., that they let their guards down, making it easier to slip through the woods undetected.
Bucks travel downwind of doe bedding during the rut, which is why most whitetail content out there tells you to set up accordingly. It’s a proven tactic, and you can take the same approach with still-hunting. If you can, find a large bedding area and still-hunt, glacier-slow, the downwind side of it. If you spot obvious entry/exit trails from the bedding. Setup, and give the spots a little more time before moving on.
Change It UpAll-day sits suck, which is why most hunters don’t do them. If you’ve spent a few dark-to-dark sits without much luck, try switching it up. Instead of getting in the woods before sunrise, sleep in and plan to still-hunt that magical 10 to 2 window. Not only will it give you a change of scenery, but it can be a great way to recharge your batteries, especially if you’re not seeing deer.
Nothing will give you a morale boost like seeing a pile of deer while you slip through the woods. It’s a good break from the grind of sitting in a stand, and you’ll have more confidence when you return to the saddle.
Numbers GameResearch shows that bucks can cover multiple miles per day during the rut. This means they’re traveling a lot in daylight. Hunting is already a numbers game, but even more so during the rut. You could sit one spot for five days in a row before getting a crack at a good buck, or you might just still-hunt your way to one.
Every year during the rut, I try to devote a few days to still-hunting. It’s a great change-up that keeps me from going crazy, but it also allows me to cover new ground and scout my way through an area if the action is slow. More times than not, I typically run into deer (sometimes they run into me), and I actually killed a buck from the ground last season while still-hunting.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d happily shoot a buck from a tree, but there’s something exhilarating about shooting one at eye level when you least expect it.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
When I first started saddle hunting I thought the money I spent on the gear bought me an instant level-up. If you’ve hung in a saddle for any amount of time, you know this isn’t the case. Sometimes too much freedom leads to paralysis or over analyzing, and this is especially true for saddle hunting. Just because you can theoretically hunt any tree, doesn’t mean you’ll have a sure shot at a big buck—even during the rut. You still have to read the deer sign and interpret how deer use the landscape. If you can’t implement that kind of woodsmanship, it won’t matter what tree you climb.
This especially applies to the rut. It can be tempting to go into autopilot mode, set up in a traditional rut funnel, and expect a big buck to appear. With enough time you might get lucky, but if you’re banking on the rut and a pile of saddle hunting gear to punch your tag, get ready for disappointment. Saddle hunting and finding success, like any other hunting style or strategy, depends on how you implement it. Here’s a few ways to maximize your saddle hunting strategy during the rut.
Don’t Be Afraid to Move…AgainAt this point, mobile hunting has become a cliché phrase, and one that saddle hunting companies use to stir your big buck hopes and dreams. Saddle hunting is infinitely adjustable when it comes to tree setups. But, that doesn’t just apply to the first tree you find. Sometimes you need to adjust your setup, and that might mean moving trees during a hunt.
For instance, if you’re hanging in a rut funnel and notice the deer traveling just outside of range, it’s time to move. After all, that quick mobile setup does make it easy to do this. It’s not the most convenient task, and it requires effort. However, if you don’t make the necessary adjustments you might as well be birdwatching from your butt hammock.
Don’t Jump Ship Too QuickSaddle hunting gives you the freedom to finetune your setup or pull up shop at any moment. This is an incredible advantage, but it can also be a stumbling block for the impatient hunter. Knowing when to bail on your rut setup requires years of hunting and a little gut-trusting.
Moving your setup also depends on the area you hunt. If you’re in a low deer density area, you might want to give your spot the time it deserves. This might mean a few all-day sits or diligent morning/evening hunts. When you’re saddle hunting, it can be tempting to abandon your post too quickly or spot hop just because you can. If you’re hunting an area with a higher deer density and you’re not seeing any action, moving is probably the right call. Just make sure you put in the time so you don’t miss out on a cruising buck.
Higher Isn’t Always BetterLightweight climbing sticks and aiders make it possible for hunters to climb more than high enough with a limited amount of equipment. Climbing as high as possible sounds like a great advantage, but it presents its own challenges as well. Anything above fifteen feet starts to create problems for shot angles. Not to mention, shot windows decrease as you climb above small, high stem count trees. I get it. Climb high enough and you won’t have to worry about a deer busting you when you draw or move, but you will have to worry about steep angles and pesky limbs, especially if you’re hunting new spots or public ground where trimming isn’t allowed.
Aside from the mobility, saddle hunting’s other claim-to-fame allows you to hide behind the tree. Instead of climbing into the canopy, use this to your advantage. If you set up correctly, you can position yourself to draw when the conditions are in your favor. Yes, it requires more stealth and creativity, but you’d be surprised at what you can get away with at just ten feet.
If you’re hunting the peak rut, like full blown chasing, fighting, etc., this bodes well for those lower setups. The deer are a bit distracted, and while I wouldn’t recommend doing jumping jacks, you can certainly get away with a lot more within reason.
Saddle UpJust because you’re hunting from one of the best tree saddles doesn’t mean you’re next in line at the taxidermist. Like other hunting gear, tree saddles are tools. Figure out what the deer are doing and then plan your strategy. Not the other way around.
The archery opener has come and gone, along with the entire month of October, and you still haven’t crossed paths with a mature buck. Turn the page to November, crisp mornings, cold fronts, and the rut brings the promise of crunching leaves and cruising bucks.
Unfortunately, almost as quick as the newfound hope arrives, the grind begins, and you find yourself on the back half of the rut, running low on sleep and ideas. You know that time on stand will prevail and you need to keep after it. This is when it pays to keep things simple and stay the course.
Simplify Your Treestand Selection MethodI’d be willing to guess that we’ve all been late for a morning hunt simply due to the fact that we can’t decide which stand to sit, a decision complicated by a lack of buck sightings and wavering confidence. This is where simplifying the decision process can create efficiencies and get your butt in the right stand when it matters.
In the offseason, hopefully, you’ve done your homework and have multiple hunt locations for every possible wind direction. The problem is, it becomes tough to decipher all those pins on the map and which ones are conducive to which wind direction. The solution is simple, list all of your hunt locations A-Z. Then list which wind direction is best for that stand location.
When the weatherman calls for a certain wind direction, you now know exactly what your options are by quickly glimpsing at your chart. Your dozens of spots have now been thinned down to one or two. Pick the spot that sparks the most excitement and go.
Don’t Switch Stands Mid-DayWe’ve all read the stories about killing big bucks in the middle of the day. The problem is, the stories don’t tend to include how mentally taxing it is to commit to an all-day sit. I love an all-day sit as much as the next guy, but after two or three consecutive all-day sits that are as uneventful as you could possibly imagine, it’s tough to commit yourself to another long day.
It becomes much more tempting to catch the noon football game, catch a mid-day nap, or restock your snack supply. Further complicating the situation, if your hunt plan involves getting in the truck and relocating stand locations mid-day, I don’t know about you, but the odds of me cashing in on the mid-day hours become incredibly unlikely.
The plan for an all-day hunt quickly turns into a morning and evening-only kind of deal. For me, the solution is packing a lunch and picking a spot that is conducive to mid-day action, even if it means the spot isn’t my best morning or evening stand.
Stick to Sanctuaries & Heavy CoverFor the guys and gals out there toughing it out on public land or heavily pressured private, the days of sitting field edges and other hunter magnets are over. By the time the rut rolls around, these deer have been hunted for a month or two, educating them about hunter patterns and pushing them towards sanctuaries and seclusion.
On public land, sanctuaries are usually formed by topography or heavy cover, places where hunters are generally uninterested in going. Simultaneously, the does are being harassed by bucks daily, and the lockdown will soon ensue. Each of these factors makes deer prefer areas of seclusion, which is right where you should be as well.
Travel Corridors & FunnelsHere’s the most basic and simplistic rut-hunting advice out there, hunt funnels and pinch points during the rut. As lame as that sounds, its importance can’t be understated. When bucks are on the move, sometimes all it takes is identifying the best funnel in the woods, even if the spot is almost void of deer sign, and plant yourself there for a few days.
If you’re there on a peak travel day, and you’ve truly located the best funnel in the woods, bucks will come through. It’s simply a matter of picking the right day. My best rut stands are terribly boring spots in the early and late seasons. If I see a doe or two, I consider it an above-average sit. But in these spots, the terrain funnels the deer through a finite area. During the rut, I typically only see a deer or two per day, they just happen to be mature bucks. Simple but effective.
Hunt Peak Travel DatesIf trail cameras have taught me anything, it’s that you can just about set your calendars for the peak mature buck travel days. Year after year, random mature bucks that I’ve never gotten pictures of before will show up on camera in surprisingly predictable patterns. This usually correlates with the days leading up to the peak estrus date.
When peak breeding is about to kick off, bucks will be scouring the country, almost as if they’re scouting for does. My favorite Midwest whitetail stomping grounds see this happen annually around November 11th, whereas my favorite western whitetail grounds see this happen around November 20th. This is where you can really use historical trail camera data to help you select what days are best suited for going all in.
Hunting the rut is almost as simple as playing the odds. Every strategy you deploy, think of it as an odds multiplier. Individually, none of these tips will guarantee you a crack at the buck of a lifetime, but by stacking the odds multipliers together, things will eventually happen in your favor. Who knows what this November may bring.
This is essentially what my wife told me after I returned, complaining, from a recent hunt. It’s not exactly the consolation I was looking for, but it was an honest assessment, albeit frank. While she didn’t mean it as a slight or even a passive-aggressive dig, she did help me reevaluate my goals and expectations as a hunter who works multiple jobs, has a family, and pursues other commitments and interests. Now, before you tear me apart in the comments about how those are lame excuses and everyone else has other commitments, too, you’re absolutely right.
I’ll be the first to tell anyone, I am an opportunistic hunter, which is just a fancy way of saying I’m not a stone-cold-killer. Nope, there’s no ice in my veins. I’m not a big buck guru. I don’t consistently kill mature bucks.
When I have killed good bucks, it had more to do with right-place-right-time rut luck than it did natural killer instincts. Like a shade tree mechanic, I know enough to get by. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love hunting. I grew up in a family of hunters, and it’s been a large part of my personal and professional life. But if I’m honest, I love the idea of hunting more than hunting itself. I’m willing to bet a lot more hunters share this same sentiment than they care to admit. And that’s okay, as long as you’re okay with that. If you are, then it’s probably time to embrace your role as a weekend warrior.
This isn’t a cry for mediocrity. I firmly believe that you have to work hard to accomplish your goals. There are no shortcuts, and you’ll have to make sacrifices to achieve success in whatever you do, and that includes hunting. The question always comes back to what you want from hunting and are you willing to make the sacrifices? This requires an honest self-evaluation. If you’re not honest, you’ll resent hunting, the time you spend outdoors, and yourself.
Evaluate Your ExpectationsI admire hunters who consistently kill big bucks year after year. Like an artist, the best hunters constantly look for ways to evolve or improve their craft, which they’ve honed for years. Their dedication rivals that of professional athletes. But like sports, the vast majority of us aren’t making the pros either because we’re not willing to put in the work or we don’t have what it takes. This is just the truth.
If you look at hunters who consistently kill mature bucks, none of them do so coincidentally. There’s tons of scouting, early mornings, and hunting that occurs. While hunting whitetails might not be their only big game pursuit, there’s no doubt it’s in their top three of life’s priorities. They spend hours, probably days, thinking about hunting, checking trail cameras, scouting, and burning all their vacation time during deer season—if they don’t already hunt for a living. They devote a ton of energy, effort, and resources to hunting, more than the average hunter, which is why they produce above-average results. If you’re not doing these things, then you shouldn’t expect to achieve the same results as those hunters who do.
Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy deer hunting or even experience success, but if you’re comparing your achievements to those hunters, you’ll be disappointed every time. Do you check trail cameras or scout every time you get a free moment, or are you willing to take out a second mortgage to afford an insane amount of cell cam subscriptions? Will you leverage a large part of your income to hunt unpressured ground or out-of-state? Do you have any other hobbies or interests that you’ll give up to chase big bucks? What about friends and family events? Sure, there’s a happy medium in there, but if these habits sound extreme to you, you might not be as invested as you think. Again, that’s okay.
Find What Works for YouIf you’re relegated to just weekend hunts or a few day stretches, you should consider what success means for your situation. For starters, you should probably calculate your hunting days to figure out just how many days you’ll get to hunt this season. After that, consider what you’d be happy shooting. Do you love the idea of eating venison year-round, or do you just want a shot at a decent buck? It might be risky to hold out for bigger bucks, especially if you hunt in low-deer density areas on a limited time. But again, that, too, remains subjective for everyone.
Weapon of choice should probably factor into this as well (depending on your local hunting regulations). Is it more important that you kill a deer with your bow, or are you just as happy to put one down with a rifle? If it’s the latter, then go with the weapon that gives you a greater chance of success. If you have less than twenty hunts for the season, you might only have one or two encounters with a good buck. Are you okay with not getting a shot because he’s just outside of bow range? If so, great. Just hunt the way you want. But if you’d cry and kick yourself all the way back to the truck, put down your ego and pick up a rifle. Trust me, no one cares.
Maybe you’re not even interested in running trail cameras. Honestly, part of me wishes they didn’t exist. I run a few cell cams on a family property with my dad. They show us what deer hang around, but it’s really just a way for us to chat and keep up with each other throughout the season, more than a strategic tool. I don’t use them on public lands because I hate the idea of carrying a ton of stuff into the woods. For me, hunting provides a break from the clutter of work and life. Keeping up with a ton of cameras feels counterintuitive to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love getting a big buck on camera, but it also removes a bit of the magic for me. Even if it doesn’t give me the intel I need to kill it, I’d much rather find that deer’s rubs and let it run wild in my imagination. After all, a weekend warrior can dream.
According to my wife, I’m a late bloomer with a lot of things. She’s not wrong, but one that she doesn’t care about but which bothers me a lot, is that I’m just starting to really incorporate decoys into my deer hunting strategy. I’ve spent so much time hunting public land and other pressured places, which often lack a good class of mature bucks, that it just never really resonated with me.
I did manage to lure in a cruising Nebraska buck several years ago on some public dirt. The deer were traveling along a grassy ridgetop with sparse cedars and very few ambush spots. The stand-friendly trees just weren’t on their route, so I put up a decoy in the hopes that one of the cruisers would see and swing on through.
It worked, but it was thin gruel to live on. It wasn’t until the last couple of seasons that I realized how valuable a decoy can be, but there are a few considerations to make so you don’t get this wrong. This starts first with the type of decoy that is best for your situation and goals.
The Right Fake For The JobThe default decoy choice is to go with a buck. Big buck, little buck, something with antlers. This is a good choice for a couple of situations. If your uncle, whose last name is Drury, gives you permission to hunt Candyland and you know you’ll be where the big ones are numerous and not overly cautious, a big buck decoy is the move.
If your bloodline isn’t so generous with hunting spots, a buck decoy might still be the move. The more big deer you have to hunt, the better. Otherwise, a smaller buck might be the best bet so you can lure in deer of various age classes, not just the king of the whole spot.
There is also a matter of timing. While buck decoys can work any time, there is a sorting out period with deer that really ramps up during the pre-rut and the early stages of the chase phase. Now, some bucks will fight any time during the rut, so this rule is a loose one. But if you want to hunt Halloween deer, a buck decoy might be better for you then than on November 15th. By then, you should probably give the bucks what they really want.
Ladies First I like doe decoys a lot. It’s just a simple calculus for me. During the rut, bucks are looking to pass on their genes, so I present them with what they believe is a good option for that. It’s not rocket science.
I don’t know why so many people think that a buck decoy is a better bet to lure in big bucks, but a doe decoy can be real effective. Doe decoys also represent a non-threatening member of the herd, especially if you buy a good one that doesn’t look like she has just seen a mountain lion working with a pack of wolves to surround her.
Doe decoys are also a great move if you’re not overly concerned with killing only giant deer. For those of us who really like shooting bucks of various sizes for various reasons, a doe decoy during the rut will outshine any scent, call, or whatever you can buy. It’s that effective. Of course, you have to remember that you’re inviting a deer into a zone where you will definitely leave your mark, which is where a lot of hunters screw up.
Scent-Free(ish)Last year when I watched a small northern Wisconsin six-pointer sniff the butt of my doe decoy, I realized something important. That deer extended his neck out to get a good whiff while my daughter centered the cross-hairs of her crossbow scope. It was a tense situation that only got more tense when he suddenly recoiled and backed up.
Lucky for us he was young and dumb and not thinking too clearly because he went back in for a follow-up sniff. It was clear that I thought I had sprayed that decoy down better than I had. When you invite a deer into a spot where you have handled the very object they are approaching, you open yourself up to a costly mistake.
While they do sort of go into a trance and get dumber if they buy your setup, it’s not a guarantee that a whiff of hand scent or something else won't topple the whole house of cards. Use gloves, spray the decoy liberally with scent-eliminating spray, and try not to touch any part of the landscape that you don’t absolutely need to touch.
For more information on deer hunting, check out these articles: Don’t Fall for These Whitetail Rut Excuses, How to Get Blacklisted from Deer Camp, and Superstitions Probably Won’t Help You Fill Tags, But They Can Be Fun.
Opening day has come and gone. The October Lull is fading in the rearview mirror. And, now, the whitetail rut is staring us right in the hairy eyeball. It’s just about here.
As you might have guessed by now, my opening day plan did not go as I’d hoped. In fact, the two bucks I’ve been after in southern Michigan have been complete ghosts. One hasn’t shown since October 3rd. The other, which I wrote about last time, has been AWOL since the beginning of September but did, in fact, show up again. I have a single trail cam video of him, as of last weekend, in the last seven weeks. This is opposed to the nearly daily observations or photos I had of him over the past two years during this same timeframe. Strange, to say the least. All of this is to say, my usual single buck-focused strategy is not panning out this year. They’re simply not here.
Fortunately, there are other options. Such as the absurdly tall brow-tined buck I was able to hunt and kill about two weeks ago in another part of my home state (detailed in this podcast). Or the new buck that showed up around the same time in my main area, who is now making near daily appearances all over the farms I have permission on. He’s an impressive deer, maybe four years old, maybe three? I’ve yet to decide exactly what I’ll do if he waltzes in front of me. Should I shoot or hold out hope that one of my original target bucks, who I know for sure are mature, will return? It might just be an in-the-moment decision.
Nonetheless, the last week of October is here and that means it’s time to turn up the temperature on my hunting plan. Over the next seven days or so (across the upper two-thirds of the country), testosterone levels will be peaking, and bucks will be hard at work finding the first doe to come into estrus. It’s an excellent time to catch bucks moving in daylight and maybe making a mistake or two, all while still mostly sticking to their home core ranges. If you have a buck on some kind of pattern, now is one of the best times to make an aggressive move. Unfortunately, as I just described, I don’t have that situation myself. So instead, I’m on the search.
I’m going to begin hunting parts of my permission properties that I’ve not been able to hunt or scout to this point, but doing so in a way that still takes advantage of normal pre-rut activity. I’ll be hunting the edges of several different doe bedding areas, near the most attractive evening food sources (in my case, oak flats, green food plots, and cover cropped fields), and in range of well-used scrapes if possible too. I consider this a time to ramp up the aggression level of my hunts, pushing a little deeper into the cover, hunting mornings, and adding light calling into the mix.
But I’m not in full-blown rut risk-taking mode either. I’m not pushing into the middle of bedding areas, I’m not hunting all day, and so on. The plan is to rotate around a series of different spots like this, bouncing from one new region to another, until I hopefully get eyes on one of my two mature bucks and uncover exactly where they’ve disappeared to. If that happens, it’s game on.
To make sure you’re rut-ready, be sure to check out these articles as well: How to Kill a Pressured Buck During the Rut, How to Rattle in a Buck, and How to In-Season Scout During the Rut.
As the saying goes, there’s a grain of truth in every lie, just like when your hunting buddy “passes” up a buck to let him grow another year. How many arrows did you start the hunt with, bud? All joking aside, there’s definitely an ounce of truth to every widely held whitetail belief.
But the fact of the matter is, whitetail hunters with relentless optimism tend to find a way to fill their tags every season. They make hay while the sun shines. Hunting season is short, the rut is shorter, and the number of our days off is even shorter still. As our friend Tony Peterson likes to say, “Ask your dog if you should go hunting today.”
The Corn Isn’t Out YetEven though it’s undeniable, standing corn does have an effect on your deer sightings. A percentage of the deer will be seeking refuge in the corn, but not all of them. It’s not recommended to go burn out your best rut stand when the conditions aren’t right, especially if you’re faced with a sea of standing corn.
Nonetheless, some of the best deer my friends and I have taken have been in October, in the heart of ag country, with the majority of the corn still standing. We’re talking 90% of the entire landscape consisting of corn or soybeans, fence line to fence line. While the standing corn certainly isn’t ideal, don’t let it be a deal breaker.
If you’re saving your best spots for the peak of the rut, hunt low-impact stands in late October. Bucks can be found with their guard down, confidently following the edge of the corn. The last week of October typically kicks off the rut, and those mature bucks will assuredly abandon the corn from time to time to survey their rutting grounds. Pair this behavior with the first hot doe of the season, late October can be a whitetailer’s dream, standing corn or not.
It’s Too Warm for Them to RutDespite the stories that have been circling the internet lately, we can’t control the weather. If we could, I know a group of whitetail hunters who would pool their money together to make an early November cold front happen. Jokes!
The fact is, yes, daylight rutting activity will decrease with a November heat wave. But does will still be bred, and bucks will still search high and low to breed them all. Most of this breeding will take place overnight and in the wee hours of daylight, but hunters still have a chance.
The key to combating warm weather during the rut is to either hunt water or get in tight to the bedding. With warm weather, we don’t have the luxury of sitting back and letting rut funnels bring midday bucks into our laps. The closer we get to the bedroom, the more likely we are to catch daylight rutting activity.
I Don’t Have Any Bucks on Trail Camera AnywaysAs awesome as trail cameras are, how fun they are to check, and how effective they can be, I have a love-hate relationship with checking trail cameras during the rut. They can absolutely tell me when a big buck moves into the area and even help me decide which stand to sit.
What I don’t like about trail cameras during the rut is that they can bring pessimism. If I find myself running low on sleep and deer encounters, no pictures of giant bucks on camera will be enough to convince me to sit one out. Without cameras, I find it easier to stay positive and believe deep down that a monster could be lurking beneath my treestand at any moment. Remember, during the rut, especially in the seeking-chasing phase, a big buck can show up just about anywhere, at any time.
The statistics tell the story. Matt Ross with the National Deer Association summarized data from six studies performed in six different states, featuring 182 collared bucks, and the data is awfully confidence-inspiring.
The study showed that roughly 60% of bucks go on an excursion during the rut. Ross explains it best, “Think about all of those times during the rut you got a one-time glimpse of a buck while hunting and never saw him again. Or, maybe a single-appearance trail-camera image in late October that has you falling in love and breaks your heart all at the same time. Many of these instances may be explained by a buck in the midst of an excursion.”
Of the 182 collared bucks featured in the study, the average distance traveled from the buck’s home range was 1.5 miles. Ross also mentioned, “One Maryland study was able to track the proportion of excursions that happened during daylight versus night and found their study animals went from doing it 85% of the time in the dark during pre-rut to 70% of the time during the day during peak rut.”
This doesn’t mean you can hunt a subpar spot and regularly kill a mature buck, but if the rut is on and you’re in the tree, just about anything can happen. Best of luck to all the bowhunters out there.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
Some of my first hunting experiences occurred at a deer camp. Looking back, that camp persisted on nostalgia and the culture it fostered in a rural Mississippi community.
Occasionally, someone would shoot a big buck, and I don’t mean big for the pine hills of Mississippi. They would have been big anywhere. But those opportunities occurred about as frequently as snow did. When someone killed a deer of that magnitude, it might as well have been snowing. Members would come to the camp house, folks’ plans for that day all but canceled, and even the hardest of men couldn’t help but grin and jabber on.
Like many other rural areas, a service station where you could get your tires rotated, buy bar and chain oil, or purchase a gallon of milk was the hub of the community. Once the initial shock at camp wore off, the proud hunter and other members made a procession to that store, where he or she would drop their tailgate for all to see. As the excitement died down, members would leave. One by one, trucks would pull out until the parking lot was empty. Like those seldom snow days in south Mississippi, everyone tried to milk the excitement as long as they could. Almost like they knew it probably wouldn’t happen again for at least another year, maybe two.
While those caliber of deer seemed rare, they certainly weren’t the only ones roaming the woods. During dog runs or even rabbit season, someone would jump a big buck. Neighboring camps would kill one, or the occasional road kill or dead head would attest to the class of bucks too.
Of course, the pressure and predictability of that camp kept a lot of those deer alive. Like most deer camps, it had pre-hung sets, generational ladder stands, and renowned box blinds named after terrain features or mature bucks once killed there. Hunting strategies for camp were limited to a pin-out board, and everyone stuck to the script. It’s not that members couldn’t try something new within their pinned-out area; they just didn’t.
The DissidentsEventually, a few dedicated bowhunters (which not a lot of folks did) started to have success by ditching the food plots, reading sign, and going to where the deer were—not where people wanted them to be. The fact that they were bowhunters gave them an immediate advantage in what was primarily a gun-hunting club.
They had an entire month and a half to hunt before anyone else, and this was before crossbows were legal. However, their willingness to rebel from traditional deer camp hunting and get “mobile” before it was cool enlightened everyone in camp. Big buck kills slowly went from occasional to annual, and it wasn’t uncommon that multiple were taken every year.
While most members still hunted the food plots or participated in the deer-dog drives, a handful of people, like my dad and grandfather, started keying on terrain features, using historical data, or hunting around the predictable spots rather than in them. Instead of sitting on the food plot, they would anticipate bucks j-hooking into them and hunt the woods. Rather than climbing a ladder stand overlooking a wide creek bottom, they’d walk the creek until they found the best crossing and hunt from the ground or a turkey stool.
They also started hunting a lot of the camp’s SMZs, where they had consistent success and long drag-outs in the dark. And surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) they were some of the few paying attention to the wind. No, they weren’t killing a Pope & Young every year, but they were shooting bucks that any of the members would have been happy to see.
While my dad and grandfather adopted these new strategies, they didn’t stop sitting on food plots completely, and they definitely didn’t miss the first week of deer-dog runs. But when the pressure heated up and deer sightings dropped, they hunted off the beaten path. They toed the line of enjoying the traditions of deer camp while hunting big bucks with purpose.
Tread Your Own PathI know some deer camps frown upon or downright prohibit straying from specific stand locations. Those camps tend to occupy one end of the spectrum or another when it comes to success. But I know most camps typically use a pin-out or log system that gives each hunter a certain amount of acreage they can hunt. If that’s the case for your camp, and the daytime activity has dropped at the food plots or historical stand sites, it’s probably time to try something new.
For starters, look at your camp map with a fresh set of eyes. Rather than seeing the stand locations as huntable areas, think of them as no-deer zones. These spots get hammered, regardless of wind direction. You can bet the deer will do their best to skirt these areas. Not only will this approach point you in the right direction, it’ll actually narrow down where you should focus your efforts.
Every camp has spots that get run through like a cattle shoot. These spots typically become famous because someone killed a big buck there in the past, and everybody and their brother has been trying to repeat that same feat ever since. Don’t join the long list of folks who failed to kill anything there but their hopes. They’re hunting memories, not big bucks.
While I haven’t been to that camp in years, I sometimes talk with old members, and the hunting approach there remains largely intact. Most everyone shows up to opening week of deer-dog season or hunts the food plots, while a select few see consistent success. In that regard, it’s not so different from hunting anywhere else. I’m all for the community of hunting camps and how successful hunts seem to reinforce that aspect. While it might take a bit of healthy revolt to find consistent success in your deer camp, just think of it as enduring tradition.
Few things substitute experience and time in the field. While it can be tempting to think a new piece of gear can help you level up, it rarely works that way. As a gear editor and reviewer, I’ve used some of the best hunting gear money can buy, and I can tell you that no single piece of equipment has directly correlated to me killing a big buck.
However, I have experienced direct success thanks to in-season scouting, consistent time on stand, and a stubborn willingness to hunt places that other folks didn’t give the time of day. The truth is there are no shortcuts or amount of hunting articles that you can read to help you notch your tag. But the good news is that there are plenty of practical habits to get you closer to your deer hunting goals, and most of them will only cost you time and effort.
Keep a Consistent Shooting RoutineOkay, this one will inevitably cost you money, but there’s no way around it. Besides, you’ll eventually have to buy more arrows or bullets anyway. For archers, you don’t have to sling twenty arrows a day to kill a deer, but you do need a consistent routine.
We’re not trying to 12-ring our way to fame, but we do need to hit a deer’s vital area to quickly and ethically kill it. Hopefully, you’ve been practicing in the months leading up to the season, so by the time October 1st rolls around, you can simply dial the intensity down. Maybe that looks like a solid three- to five-shot group every day or every other day during the season. It’s sort of like sports. The most intense training is done during the off-season, while the in-season looks more like maintenance and recovery.
Rifle hunters can take a similar approach, though the volume and frequency will look different. Once you’ve thoroughly sighted your rifle in, it’s a good idea to periodically check it during the season to make sure it’s still on. And, no, hitting a pie tin at 50 yards isn’t sufficient.
After you’ve taken it out a time or two, especially if you bump your scope or drop your rifle, take it back to the bench and fire a few rounds to check your scope’s zero. It’s better to catch it now than after you miss the buck of a lifetime. Also, don’t just shoot it from the bench. Take a few like you might in the field (kneeling, standing, sitting, etc.).
Stop Hunting the Same SpotsThere’s always a temptation to revisit spots where you’ve had prior success. While there are certainly spots that just seem to produce year after year, others can be flukes. Habitat change, urban sprawl, and hunting pressure can all affect these spots. Just because you killed a big buck from your grandpa’s ladder stand one year doesn’t mean you’ll recreate those same results this year. If you’re hanging on to similar hopes and you’ve been stuck in a rut, it’s probably time to make a change.
The same thing goes for spots that look promising or have a ton of deer sign but never a ton of action. I’m a fan of targeting big rubs and community scrapes, but research shows that a lot of that activity is made at night. Unfortunately, this deer sign can be a huge red herring, and by the time you find it, you’ve probably missed that window of opportunity anyway. Instead, look for fresh sign like tracks or droppings where multiple trails converge. Of course, the closer you find this sign to bedding and/or food, the more likely you are to see daytime activity.
Spend More Intentional Time in the WoodsNothing replaces time in the woods. Well, purposeful time, anyway. You can’t just absorb all the whitetail mysteries by sitting in a stand from dark to dark. But, if you’re intentionally taking note of the details, where the deer come from, why they travel a specific trail, what plants and vegetation they browse on, etc., in relation to the day’s specific conditions, then you’re on the right track.
Sure, it’s helpful to see where deer enter and exit a food plot or where they emerge from bedding, but it’s a lot more useful if you ask why the deer come from here or why they take that trail and not the others. While you might not know those answers definitively, you can make enough educated guesses to help you get in bow or rifle range.
You don’t always have to actually hunt to get the scoop, either. Mid-day, or all-day, scouting sessions can give you way more info than running in for a hang-and-hunt. Truthfully, they’re probably a lot better use of your time. If you look at some of the best hunters who consistently kill mature bucks, the ratio of scouting to time on the stand definitely tips the scales toward scouting. Instead of heaving a Hail Mary on the limited time you have, swap a few of those wishful sits and see what the woods tell you.
When I was first starting out deer hunting, signature hats were all of the rage. I don’t mean like the flat-brim craze that you see in the western hunting crowd these days. I mean goofy styles that could set you apart from your bow-toting brethren.
This has a lot to do with Chuck Adams. If you’re too young to know who he is, just think about your favorite hunting influencers and then imagine someone who probably has 1,000 times their bowhunting skill. Adams is known not only for killing huge animals all over North America, but also for wearing a green stocking cap that’s usually seated a little crooked on his head.
Wearing a funny hat or your grandfather’s old blood-crusted camo jacket isn’t the only way of standing out and sticking to your superstitions. Some hunters go the facepaint route, where they look more like they’re tailgating for an NFL game than heading to a treestand.
While some of these choices are definitely tied to presenting an image, some are just about luck. A lucky hat can go a long way in our minds for some reason, and if it gives us a sense that the fates will look upon us favorably, maybe we will hunt harder.
Maybe just a belief in the superstitious can help you fill a tag. Or maybe this is just the hunter version of adjusting your chakra via crystals.
A History Of Quirky Hunters We’ve only been able to go to the grocery store to fill our houses with calories for a blink of time in the grand scheme of things. Mostly, we’ve had to go find or kill our next meal. We know this, so it’s no surprise when you hear about the rituals of folks in the past or people living today who rely on a direct line to the land for their sustenance.
In Mongolia, the Kazakh people use golden eagles to hunt. They perform rituals that involve chanting, sacrifices, and the sharing of a meal with their feathered hunting partners. The Bantu in Africa offer their deceased ancestors’ spirits drinks, tobacco, and food. They also pray and sing for them in order to maintain the connection between the members of their bloodlines who have returned back to the earth.
Offerings of all types occur in hunting cultures in Europe, Japan, and other locations. The general thought behind these is that the act of hunting is important, and for it to break our way, we must give the ethereal governing bodies a bit of a gift. Some folks still stuff a bit of greenery in a deer’s mouth just so its spirit has some extra nourishment to help it through the journey to the big bedding ground in the sky.
Most modern whitetail hunters don’t go too deep into rituals, sacrifices, and traditions, but they can be superstitious. I know I am.
Good Arrows, Bad Arrows When I start hunting, I use the first arrow in my quiver on the first hunt. If I see deer, I keep using that arrow until I blank. Then it’s time for the second arrow in my quiver. I don’t know how this started for me, but I almost can’t stand it if I try to do it any other way. Maybe there’s something else there, perhaps a tiny dose of obsessive-compulsive disorder. I don’t know.
I do know that I feel a bit more hopeful, and a bit more optimistic when I move to the next arrow in my quiver. I know it doesn’t matter, but it feels like I’ve put away a bad luck arrow, and might be working with something that’ll bring good luck.
I never said superstitions made sense or were grounded in reality. Some people have to have a Twinkie with them on rifle opener. Others I’ve heard about will leave their broadhead at the sight of a kill. Others carry a specific rifle round in their hand or their interior pocket before they load up when they get to stand.
Some folks think seeing a certain critter is good luck. My dad always felt that way about when the chickadees come through. Maybe he’s right, maybe chickadees are a good sign. Or maybe when they come through, it’s because the same conditions that make them hungry make the deer hungry, too.
I don’t know. It’s probably total bullshit, but to this day, when I hear the call of a chickadee, or I see one hopping along an oak limb near my stand, something changes just a bit inside of me. There’s just a slight undercurrent that starts humming in my chest, and while the bucks don’t always follow the songbirds, I secretly always believe they will—and that’s all that really matters.
For more information on deer hunting, check out these articles: How to Scout Deer From 1200 Miles Away, 3 Blood Trailing Mistakes That Could Cost You A Buck, and Embrace The Latest Technology In Trail Cameras To Kill More Bucks.
Other than the rut, opening day of deer season is one of the most anticipated times of the year. Then, once opening day plans fail, temps stay hot, and deer activity seems non-existent, it becomes one of the most hated. When we don’t immediately notch a tag or shoot that buck that’s been on camera all season, it can be tempting to throw in the towel and wait for the rut to hand us a favor. The reality is that the woods are changing this time of year, and successful deer hunting requires more work than we expect.
Rather than riding out a bad plan or not hunting altogether, a few adjustments and some in-season scouting can help you find deer during the early season. One of the ways to bust the October lull myth is to get mobile. No, I’m not talking about saddle hunting. Instead of bouncing from tree to tree without any fresh intel, leave the tree saddle in the truck and take to the ground. Sure, you won’t have the vantage point you would at 12 to 15 feet in a tree, and you’ll need to possess a bit more stealth, but adopting a hunting strategy from the ground can help you find success during October.
Take Advantage of the FoliageOne of the great things about the first month of deer season is the amount of leaves still on the trees. This provides obvious cover advantages, especially when you hunt from the ground. Most of the woods are still thick, and ground cover can range from river cane and palmetto thickets to any number of saplings and shrubbery.
I once shot a buck hunting from the ground behind a small huckleberry bush. Though evergreen, this huckleberry bush gave just enough cover for me to get a shot off on the buck before he saw me. Luckily, most everything else in the woods this time of year is still green, which makes it easy to draw your bow without being seen if you’re hidden enough.
The Times They Are A ChangingMost hunters, if they could, would probably fast forward to November 1st and skip the whole early-season dance. As a hunter in the deep South, I empathize with this sentiment. However, it’s easy to overlook the changes that occur during the month of October and how they affect deer movement and, in turn, deer sightings.
For starters, deer shift their feed patterns during the early part of October. Depending on where you hunt, this might occur later in the month. The year-to-year variance of acorn crops can also throw a wrench in the best of preseason plans. In the middle of a months-long drought? You can bet this will have an effect on deer movement. Constant habitat changes and the fact that the woods are now filled with two-legged predators means the deer are doing their best to survive. They will adapt whether you do or not.
Ground and PoundUnless you’re hunting low-pressured deer, you’ll need to modify your approach to keep up with these changes. Hunting from the ground can get you started. You might not have to cover dozens of miles to get into deer, but if you’re struggling to see them or get them in range, it’s time to hit the ground. Start by scouting (with your bow in hand) for fresh sign. Look for white oaks dropping this time of year. It can be a low-hanging fruit if your goal is to just find deer. If you find a tree with a ton of fresh deer droppings, take advantage of it while it’s hot. If the sign looks like it’s over a week old, look for more recent sign.
Scrapes and rubs might not be heating up just yet, so don’t forget about the importance of fresh tracks, especially this time of year. Deer haven’t gone into rut mode at this point and can be mostly predictable. If you find fresh tracks along a trail to an area with feeding sign, it might not hurt to spend some time there if the conditions allow.
When you’re scouting on the fly and trying to stay stealthy, hunting from the ground can minimize your presence. Instead of trying to hang a set, construct a natural ground blind or tuck into some cover. You might feel vulnerable the first few times you hunt from the ground, and it’ll probably require a few learning curves to figure out what you can get away with. However, it can give you more opportunities once you add this strategy to your tool belt. There won’t always be spots where you can climb a tree. If you don’t see hunting from the ground as a viable option, you might be doing yourself a disservice.
Expand Your SkillsetHunting from the ground might seem like it limits your opportunities, but this is hardly the case. Sure, you might be able to get away with more from a tree saddle or stand, but having a ground game will make it second nature when it’s time to make a change.
Feature image via Adobe Stock.
A few weeks ago, a friend from Iowa who has access to some primo private ground made an off-hand comment about how you can’t find big bucks anymore on public dirt. It was an interesting take for two reasons.
The first was, I know he has never whitetail hunted on public land. Ever. The second was that if you think you can’t find big bucks on public land in Iowa, you’re not trying very hard. The deer are out there, and it’s not just the premier states where you can find good deer on ground open to anyone.
The key to finding the deer is to understand how crowded the land will be, and when it will be the most full. This task often starts with timing.
Lovin’ The LullNo whitetail hunter in his right mind loves the Lull, except for public land hunters. While the general deer movement might seem to die in the beginning of October, this is not something public land hunters should worry about. In fact, they should embrace it.
We’ve been fed a narrative that there are a few weeks each season before the pre-rut kicks off that are just not worth the time in the woods. Since most folks believe this, it keeps most hunters out of the woods. That’s when you want to go if you’re a public land deer hunter. This is as simple as the advice to hunt during the midweek when you can, as opposed to the weekends.
If you think of the season as a week (forget the late-season for now), you can look at the Lull like it’s a 15-day long Tuesday. There just isn’t going to be much pressure out there, and that matters to pressured deer. It matters so much that they’ll move when they aren’t supposed to, because the prevalence of hunters is low. That’s a good start to avoiding the crowds, but it’s not the only thing you can do.
A Layer BackOn my private land hunts, I always start out with the easy stuff around the opener. That’s the time for the field-edge sits and the obvious food sources. After the pressure builds, the leaves start to fall, and the food sources shift, those easy spots die. That’s when I move a layer back into the cover to hunt staging deer.
When it comes to public land hunting, the deer might already be pushed back a layer before the season even opens. You see this with over-the-counter elk as well, but it seems like a lot of folks like to go out and scout around right before the season. Even though they aren’t actually hunting yet, the deer don’t seem to care. They don’t like the sudden influx of two-legged predators, and they react accordingly.
Oftentimes the easiest way to avoid the crowds is to try to think through what one layer deeper into the cover would mean. If everyone is on the edges of the openings, you might only need to hunt 100 yards from them. Remember that even though the woods might seem crowded, the crowding will happen in very specific spots. Your job is to identify those and try to get in a little deeper. To work just a bit harder than the average hunter. Then, you need to relax.
Time In the MarketThere’s a saying about how average people become wealthy by investing that goes like this: time in the market beats timing the market. What this means is you can try to figure out when the next crash will happen or when to jump in on a new trend that should cause some stocks to blow up, but you won’t get it right. The big money firms with access to the best minds in the business can’t get it right, and they stand to make billions. Your odds of figuring out something they don’t know and then being able to time the market consistently are close enough to zero to be zero.
Investing consistent amounts of money in indices-tracking mutual funds and ETFs for three decades or so is a different story. Stocks go up and down on a daily basis, but the market goes in one direction over the long haul. Whitetail hunters who want to avoid the crowds learn to think this way as well.
Instead of waiting for a cold front in the second week of October to hunt, they put in time when they can. Instead of bailing on their setups after an hour and a half because they lack confidence, they trust their scouting and give each sit four or five hours. They avoid crowds mostly by not being a part of them.
Aside from being a tad bit obsessed with scouting, this is probably my number one strategy for avoiding people and finding deer on public land. Most people are impatient, and that causes them to hunt like most people. Be patient, and you’ll differentiate yourself from the masses and increase the odds that a deer will walk by when you’re there.
For more information on whitetail hunting, check out these articles: How to Scout and Hunt Southern Streams, How to Call in Early Season Bucks, and How Much Does Broadhead Choice Really Matter for Whitetail Hunters?
Cellular trail cameras have become a large—and vital—part of deer hunters’ strategies. Their convenience alone is undeniably effective. Weekend warriors can keep tabs on deer while they’re stuck in their nine-to-fives, and even the most dedicated scent freaks can stay out of their spots until it’s time to make a move.
While cell cams are not without their faults, the Moultrie Mobile Edge 2 Pro boasts a ton of features, including a user-friendly app and connection to the best available cell carrier, that makes it painless to run. Improvements from the original Edge Pro include a faster trigger speed, Easy Aim Mount, and GPS locator, to name a few. I’ve been running the original Edge and Edge Pro for the past few seasons. While I’ve been more than pleased with these cameras, Moultrie’s latest rendition makes a great cell cam even better. Here are my initial thoughts from testing the new Moultrie Mobile Edge 2 Pro.
Features and Specs * Network: Uses any of the Big 4 networks * Memory: Built-in 8GB, no SD card * Power: 8 or 16 AA Batteries, Power Mag (separate) * Max Photo Resolution: 40 MP * Video Resolution: 1440p * Flash: No glow infrared * Detection Range: 100 ft. * Flash Range: 100 ft. * Trigger Speed: .3 sec. * FOV: 50 degrees * Detection Delay: 0-30 sec. * Live Aim: Live preview for setup * Weight: 9 lbs. * Warranty: 2-year * Smart Capture * Daily Test Image
Upgrades from the Edge Pro * Easy Aim mount included * On-Demand remote trigger * GPS * Scheduler mode * Increased trigger speed
First Impressions and SetupI’ve been testing the Moultrie Mobile Edge 2 Pro for several weeks, and I’ve been impressed with the upgrades. Both the photo and video quality got a boost from 36MP to 40 MP and 1080p to 1440p, respectively. In other words, you’ll notice clearer pictures and video with the Edge 2 Pro, especially at nighttime.
You don’t always have a level, clear spot to mount your trail camera, and I can’t tell you how many sticks I’ve sacrificed to position a camera just right. Moultrie included an Easy Aim Mount with the Edge 2 Pro, which eliminates this hassle. At this point, I don’t know why they don’t come standard with any camera.
Moultrie Mobile rolled out the Live Aim feature with the original Edge Pro, which eliminates the headache of finding the perfect position for your camera. In fact, the Element’s Tyler Jones highlighted Live Aim as one of his favorite things about this camera, and that it’s “extremely handy.” On your initial setup, you can connect to the camera via the Moultrie Mobile app. You then have a live view of your camera’s FOV. There’s no guesswork, and you don’t have to trigger the camera to do this. This feature and the quick app connectivity streamline the setup process to just minutes.
While running the Edge and Edge Pro last year, there were several times when I’d get a photo of a deer’s butt within a few feet of the camera. There were even times when I would be hunting near a camera, and I would see deer walk by it, but it never triggered. While I haven’t had a chance to make this observation yet, I’m hoping the increased trigger speed of 0.3 seconds should mitigate these issues. From testing it during setup, I haven’t had any issues with failed triggers, and there’s no deer butts to date.
Extended Battery LifePerhaps the biggest upgrades to the Edge 2 Pro deal with battery life consumption. In addition to Smart Capture and Smart Zones, which eliminate any unwanted images or triggers, this camera includes a Scheduler Mode that allows you to program specific on/off times. The main gripe about trail cameras, specifically cell cams, comes from the constant need to replace batteries. These features help you get the most out of your battery life and avoid unwanted photos.
For battery power, I’ve been running Moultrie’s rechargeable Power Mag and Power Mag Plus in my Edge cameras. Not only are they quick to swap, but I don’t have to worry about keeping up with a pile of batteries. Honestly, the cost of one Power Mag only runs a few bucks more than a good pack of lithium batteries, so it’s a good investment, especially compared to loading up the Edge 2 Pro with all sixteen AAs every time you need a power boost. I’m interested to see how long the Power Mag lasts, especially when the temps drop.
Moultrie Mobile AppOne of the great things about Moultrie Mobile Edge 2 Pro is the app. Whether you’re buying your first or your fiftieth camera, the app makes the setup and run process seamless. Not only does it keep your photos and videos conveniently organized, but you can adjust your camera’s settings from anywhere, and the Edge 2 Pro’s On Demand feature allows you to trigger a photo or video instantly. The organization in the app allows you to tag certain bucks, create folders, and add time stamps, so you can easily compile historical data. I’m an opportunistic hunter, but I’ve been able to keep tabs on a specific buck thanks to these features.
Final ThoughtsWhile I’ve had minimal performance issues out of Moultrie Mobile’s Edge series of cameras, the antennas are pretty flimsy. I even broke the antenna off my original Edge while moving the camera to another location. Thankfully, the camera still works, but it’s still worth noting, especially if you plan on dropping (no pun intended) a camera in a spot with terrible service.
The Moultrie Mobile Edge 2 Pro's convenience and reasonable pricing make it a great option for both new and seasoned hunters. The user-friendly app allows you to track, adjust, and manage all your cameras, so you won’t forget where you left your camera, and you can monitor the battery life well before it goes out.
If you’re already a fan of First Lite’s Specter Camo pattern, Moultrie is offering a limited run of Edge 2 cameras in Specter. If you buy now, it also comes with a free onX membership for a year! Check it out in the MeatEater Store right here. Regardless of which color you choose, you’ll get multiple seasons worth of reliable service.
Getting invited to deer camp, especially a good one, should be savored like an expensive bottle of bourbon. For DIYers who do their best to door knock or hunt the closest public lands, these invites can offer good, low-stakes hunting opportunities. At the very least, they can offer a break from the usual grind and a chance to feel the freezer.
Deer camps typically have preset stands or manicured food plots, so there’s not a ton of guesswork involved. You have zero skin in the game, so you’re just as happy to not see anything as you are to kill the camp’s next record buck (though you probably shouldn’t). And if the company turns out to be better than the hunting, you should probably inquire about potential openings.
While it might take months, even years, to receive an invite to your buddy’s deer camp, losing such an opportunity can happen in a matter of seconds. Most deer camps or clubs worth their salt have clearly defined rules, traditions, and established etiquette. Break these and you might as well spit in the face of the members and kiss any hope of a return trip goodbye. Even if no one lays out the rules for you, it’s your job to ask what is and is not allowed. Some of the points I’ve listed should seem obvious. Then again, I regularly hear horror stories from relatives or friends who have witnessed these kinds of blunders. Just be sure you don’t make one of these mistakes the next time you get invited to deer camp.
Shooting Young BucksLarge hunting clubs with big buck reputations don’t appear out of thin air. They require dedicated, disciplined members who share the common desire to shoot mature bucks. If your state has imposed antler restrictions, you can bet these clubs have even stricter criteria for what defines a shooter buck. They typically detail this criteria by an overall score of inches or by spread width and main beam length. Because there’s no way to precisely score a deer on the hoof, clubs might exhibit some grace on deer closely in that range. But, unless you want to get blacklisted from camp, err on the side of caution when it comes to shooting a buck.
If the camp imposes a ban on anything below 120 inches or an inside spread of at least 15 inches, make sure it exceeds those criteria before pulling the trigger. If you can’t quickly determine that a buck definitely meets the criteria, let it walk. It’s better to pass than to lose your invite, embarrass the person who brought you, and maybe even pay a fine. Not to mention, passing on a borderline buck shows the members that you have enough knowledge and discipline to maintain their club standards. This could earn you a return trip or a future invite to join. Shooting a small buck will not.
Trash Talking the CampIf you’ve ever made the mistake of openly comparing your significant other to a former lover, you know it’s a fast track to a long night (or multiple nights) on the couch. Even the best intentions here come across as ill-timed and unwanted.
The same goes for gloating about a previous deer camp experience while in the company of another. You were graciously invited to hunt deer on land that you didn’t work, not to point out the age of the camp’s ladder stands or the size of food plots you didn’t plant. No one cares that so-and-so’s camp has insulated box blinds with buddy heaters and hot cocoa dispensers or that an average buck there scores 140.
Strategies, suggestions, and unwarranted advice are also big no’s. Trust me, those members have hunted that area for years, and your advice from one weekend of hunting will come across as ignorant at best. And for the love of big bucks everywhere, don’t make any negative comments about taxidermy in the camp house. It’s arrogant and distasteful.
Returning…UninvitedAnyone with an ounce of self-awareness should know that return trips are only on specific and detailed instructions. Even if the camp president says, “Come back anytime,” don’t. That is, don’t come back unless you receive another formal invite or inquire about confirmation beforehand. I don’t care how laid-back or informal the camp seems; showing up unannounced is tacky and assuming. In some cases, it’s downright poaching or even dangerous.
This might seem like a no-brainer, but I once hunted a club on an invite. My friend who invited me had to cancel at the last minute, but he notified the others that I would still be hunting that day. I pinned out on the camp board before daylight and made my way to a stand, thanks to specific instructions and tree tacks. To my surprise, someone was already sitting in the treestand I was supposed to be hunting. Turns out that a local and previous invitee decided to hunt the club that morning without an invitation. We had an awkward, whispered introduction there in the dark before he quickly gathered his things and left. To make matters worse, instead of leaving the way I came, he trampled right through where I expected deer to come from. I told my friend about the whole escapade; that guy hasn’t been back since.
Just Be CourteousDeer camps represent some of the most enjoyable aspects of hunting. They can provide a sense of community and enjoyment even if you end up eating your tag, which most solo hunting endeavors don’t. If you’re lucky enough to get invited to a good one for little or no fee, make sure you extend the same gratitude you’ve been shown. Oh, and don’t screw it up.
A couple of months ago I received an email from a Kentucky bowhunter who was fed up with the amount of hunters on public land in the Bluegrass State. To his credit, he was wrestling with the dilemma of wanting better hunting for himself, but also not wanting to punish his fellow hunters.
By fellow hunters, I mean nonresidents, of course. He led off by saying it was pretty much impossible to kill a deer on public land, which leads to the natural conclusion that fewer people out there will bend those odds in his favor. And which people are the easiest to boot? The greedy hunters who don’t pay any of the taxes in his state and don’t have any real voice.
Before we try to unravel that line of thinking, it’s best to dive into the mind of the average whitetail hunter.
Can’t or Won’t? When we start with a conclusion, which is human nature, we tend to try to find information that reinforces that conclusion. If you believe the earth is flat, then all of the evidence it isn’t is just conspiracy theory fodder. It must be that every space agency on earth is in on it, and while we can see other planets and moons and see they share a distinct non-disc-like shape, earth is different. The edge is out there being guarded by some military force, and an ice wall.
When we believe the hunting is too hard for us personally, it can’t be because we aren’t very good at it. It must be because some other hunters are responsible for our lack of success. It’s not that we don’t scout very hard, or work at hunting in a way that will lead to a few filled tags. It has to be those slob Tennessee and Illinois hunters who tromp all over spooking all of the deer onto private land.
This idea has permeated the West, and when the collective voice says it’s time for a change, the change happens. If you try to buy an elk tag and you can’t see Rocky Mountains from your porch, you know what I mean. At least with elk, muleys, and antelope, there is a credible argument to be made that tightening up license allocations is good for the resource. With whitetails in many places, that’s not the case. The whitetail is doing just fine in most places. Instead, it’s all about the perceived quality of the experience.
Bad Hunting or Bad Hunters? Last year, I drove down to Oklahoma to whitetail hunt some public land that I spent a few days on in 2018. While scouting, I walked out into a dirt field and looked across it. Instantly my eyes were drawn to a shiny black object poking out of the yellow grass 200 yards away. It was a crossbow hunter who couldn’t have stood out more if he tried.
I’d just found another setup, which consisted of a camp chair surrounded by camo netting, and butted up to a tree. There wasn’t an ounce of extra cover, and the woods were open from one end to another. I found several ground blinds and treestands throughout the various parcels of public land that were all pretty much low-effort deals.
Those hunters have the same voice as you and I, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they complained about the lack of deer on public land. It also wouldn’t surprise me if they cheered on the recent increase in license prices down in the Sooner State, where your buy-in is about the price of an Iowa nonresident license, all for an experience that is about 10% as good.
Will that cut down on nonresidents hunting there? Probably. Will that make most residents more successful? Probably not.
To What End? Let’s say hypothetically, you could wave a magic wand and kick out all of the nonresident whitetail hunters from your state. Forgot the economic impact, or the reality that that would kill most outfitting businesses. What would it lead to for most hunters?
Well, less crowded woods. That’s the goal, but it also wouldn’t make most hunters work harder. It would do the opposite, and the success rates would probably remain mostly unchanged. That means that the hunters who weren’t killing before, mostly aren’t killing after. So who’s to blame, then?
There will be someone. It might be resident hunters from some other part of the state. Or it could be those if-it’s-brown-it’s-down rifle hunters. Maybe it’s all of the crossbow hunters who get six weeks to hunt before the orange army gets its chance? It’ll be someone, and the goalposts will move from nonresidents, to the bad, not-like-me, undeserving residents.
This cycle won’t stop.
We can’t help ourselves. But the whitetails in most places are doing just fine, thank you. The populations are solid in so many areas. The opportunities are consistent. It’s just not a resource issue, and it won’t be resolved by lobbying to take away hunting opportunities from the 5-10% of the hunters who don’t have home-field advantage.
What this reminds me of is all of the hate for the Baby Boomers. Young folks are struggling financially, which has been consistent for a long, long time. If you don’t have enough money, you must be a victim, and there must be a victimizer. It’s easy to stereotype a whole generation, a whole class of people, to explain why you have problems. It’s much harder to accept reality, recognize our own autonomy in the system, and try to better ourselves. Where’s the fun in that?
Maybe that’s too harsh for some folks who just want easier hunting, but it’s not an innocent move to take away opportunities from our fellow hunters. When you do that, you’re no different from other hunters than an anti-hunter working to end hound hunting, or mountain lion hunting, or whatever. Lost opportunities don’t come back, and we should know better because most of us have been hunting long enough to know this.
The course is set in the West. In the coming year it’s going to be a diminishing number of residents, and a higher number of well-heeled folks who get a chance at those critters. As long as the demand keeps bringing in enough money, that won’t change.
Whitetail hunting is different, though.
We have the chance now to say we aren’t going to follow that path, which, in the long run, will take opportunities away from a lot more people than just the folks who live across state lines. That might not be the quick-fix answer to your deer problems now, but it’ll be a real problem for the next generation of hunters–many of whom will live in your state, pay taxes, and never once think about traveling to find some deer adventure somewhere new and different.
If you’re looking to gear up for whitetail season and you want to save some real money, check out our Whitetail Week Sale right here.
For more whitetail hunting info, check out these articles: 3 Blood Trailing Mistakes That Could Cost You A Buck, How Much Does Broadhead Choice Really Matter for Whitetail Hunters?, and Why You’re Not Successful Hunting Public Land.
I know it seems a bit crazy for a dude living in Montana to expend so much energy on hunting white-tailed deer in Wisconsin. All I can say is, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”
But I have more reasons than that. I’ve been hunting there since I was 11. I have an incredible amount of nostalgia associated with this place. And after hunting here for almost 40 years, I’ve yet to crack the code. I’m hungry to do so. I now co-own 50 acres with my dad, so I’m invested. And lastly, my dreams are filled with big whitetails cruising deciduous timber. Is that enough? It is for me.
Being 1,200 miles from my nearest stand does make serious preparation and hunting a bit tougher. On average, I’ll spend just shy of three weeks per year there. One week in the spring hunting turkeys and doing habitat work, one week in early November hunting the rut with my bow, and finally, a short week at the end of November for the rifle hunt with my family and friends. There are no “quick weekend scouting trips” or “after-work shooting lane-cutting sessions.”
That being said, I still do a lot of offseason prep to up my odds in the fall. Most of it just comes in the form of thinking or digital scouting. And I do have my dad, who lives a good bit closer to our property, and I put him to work as time allows. More on that later. From 1,200 miles away, here’s how I do it.
Cell Camera ScoutingMy original and main reason for using cell cams is to get an idea of buck inventory (I now run 20 Moultrie Edge cams on the property). On top of that, it’s fun, and it stokes my fire. Please don’t go thinking that twenty cameras somehow tell me everything that’s happening on the 400 acres available to me.
Every fall, I only see one or two of the bucks I have photos of, and I always see two or three bucks I have zero photos of. Like I said, it’s mostly for entertainment. But there are other benefits. By having my cameras spread out, I learn about the general location and movement of doe groups. If the does are there, the bucks will be, too, come November. And last but certainly not least, I’m learning new zones remotely with my cameras.
Every spring, I move a few cameras to new locations that I’m wondering about. Sometimes a deer only crosses that camera once a week, other times it’s a steady stream of deer activity. When that happens, I’ll make sure to give that spot a closer look the next time I’m in the vicinity.
OnX ScoutingI spend countless hours peering at the topo map (we hunt hill country, imagining how the deer travel through it. This year I’ve been zooming out and looking at it on a larger scale. Not just examining our property but figuring out how the ridges on our property tie in with the ridges on neighboring properties.
I’m trying to answer the question, “When a rutting buck moves from this ridge to that ridge, where is the most likely spot he’ll do that?” When I come to a conclusion, I mark the spot with the “Point of Interest” pin. I also mark every bench and saddle on the property. This gives me a clear plan when I have a few extra minutes in November to check a spot with a quick detour while moving stands midday.
I have access to 400 acres. Even after 40 years, I don’t feel like I’ve stepped foot on every inch of it. There’s always more to explore and more secrets to unlock. But more importantly, I have all of my prepped trees (for saddle hunting) and stands marked and the optimal wind tool engaged. I also have a list of my favorite (nine so far) stands with notes about each one.
The stands are listed in order of best to worst; they are all good, but if I had to kill a buck on day one, I’d go to the stand in the #1 spot, as long as the wind was right for that spot. Each stand has optimal wind direction noted. This way, if I have a north wind, I’m not even thinking about sitting in any stand that favors southerly wind directions. The stands are also marked AM, PM, or AD for all-day sits. Having this information in clear and detailed form helps me make good game-time decisions on where I should be, even when I’m weary from several all-day sits.
Boots on the GroundThis is what I ask my dad to do for me during his trips to Wisconsin. He lives in Michigan but gets over there about six times a year. To get good trail camera photos, the cameras need to be maintained. We use mostly solar panels now, so replacing batteries is a thing of the past. But cameras get whacked by falling limbs or curious bears and need adjustment. Growing vegetation is the number one issue preventing good photos; it must be cleared from in front of the cameras.
I also ask him to put in mock scrapes in key locations. If a camera is not already pointed at a scrape, I have him put a mock scrape in. We also like to have a scrape, real or fake, near all of our permanent stand sites. As the landscape changes from age and timber harvests, new stand positions come into play. When I’m there, I find them and cut shooting lanes. I’ll ask my dad to build blinds at those locations.
I’m still a fan of blinds built from natural materials. I can carry a chair in to sit on and when the blind is no longer in use, it just becomes part of the landscape. Lastly, if I have a tree I like to hang in, but I think it needs a few more lanes cut, I’ll ask him to do some trimming.
I’m working my hunting grounds vicariously through my cameras, onX, and my dad. It’s not perfect and certainly doesn’t replace my living and scouting there 365 days a year, but it’s better than nothing. At the minimum, it fills me full of hope and a strong positive mental attitude when I arrive on November 1.
I didn’t pick up a high-powered rifle to hunt whitetails until I had 14 seasons of bowhunting under my belt. To that point, I had a less-than-favorable opinion of gun hunters. They were the guys (I didn’t know a single woman who hunted then) who showed up on gun opener, conducted massive deer drives, and then bailed.
After the gun season, I’d head out to see if they had left any deer for us bowhunters. I don’t know if I had a single year where I didn’t find at least a couple of dead deer that were never recovered. That only solidified my feelings.
Eventually, I started to randomly rifle hunt deer. One of the first years that I did, I killed a buck 45 minutes into the morning that I had failed to get into bow range during the previous six weeks of the bow season. It felt like a weird victory, but again, it made me realize how easy gun hunting was when compared to archery hunting.
To this day, my stance has softened some on whether there is a big skill divide between the two factions. I do still believe bowhunters generally have to be more skilled, but that comes with a lot of caveats.
Proximity To Deer There’s a saying that you’ll often hear bowhunters spout that goes something like, ‘Where a rifle hunt ends, is where a bowhunt begins.’ This is mostly applicable to a spot-and-stalk hunt, but the sentiment works for whitetails as well.
It’s pretty easy to understand that being able to kill a deer at 200 yards provides a huge advantage over needing them in say, the sub-40-yard range. Distance removes much of their advantages, and when you erode their ability to easily see, smell, or hear you, you have a huge edge on them.
To break this down academically, consider that the two types of hunters could sit in the same spot, and their weapon’s range would produce a 5x difference. The rifle hunter can kill in five times (or more) the area a bowhunter could kill in. It’s no secret that extended range equals more opportunity, and in this case, rifle hunting is a hell of a lot easier than bowhunting.
There is also the reality that time equals opportunity, and that’s where the whole thing starts to level off.
Days Afield In most states, bowhunters will get anywhere from a month to two months before the gun season opens up. Across the board, gun seasons are shorter than archery seasons. While states have started implementing early antlerless seasons, youth seasons, and other opportunities for multi-weapon hunters, it’s pretty safe to say bowhunters have a hell of a lot more time to work with than their gun-toting brethren.
In this way, bowhunting is much easier than gun hunting. If the weather sucks, you can wait out a cold front or calmer days. If you have to go to your kid’s soccer tournament, it’s no biggie because you can hunt next weekend. Rifle hunters have to go when they can, and their window is often small. When it comes to time in the field, bowhunters have it much easier. But easy is relative, and in hunting, the difficulty level is pinned to the prevalence of pressure out there.
Dealing With CrowdsThis is where things get a little wonky. I believe hunting pressure overshadows every other variable you might encounter as far as how it influences whitetails. This is obvious in the deer hunting trends that center on creating a whitetail oasis, leaving it alone until the perfect time, and then slipping in to kill a buck that has gotten too comfortable.
Weather, available food, predation, and whatever else affects deer, but not like human hunting pressure. The number of gun hunters versus bowhunters in most states, according to license sales, is generally about four to six times as many. It doesn’t take a whole lot of mental horsepower to realize that it would be better to hunt around fewer people.
In that way, gun hunters have to be better, but there is a catch there. Gun hunters can mobilize and work together to get deer moving, and they often do. Driving deer is an option for bowhunters, but it’s not a very good one. That’s a tactic suited for a little more firepower.
To further muddy the waters here, it’s necessary to point out that individual hunting scenarios matter a lot. The bowhunter who is relegated to public land might have less competition state-wide, but on a specific piece of public land, it’ll be a different story. A rifle hunter might have 120 acres to himself, and while there are more people out and about everywhere else, his hunting will be relatively pressure-free. It’s hard to give an overall advantage here, because pressure varies so much.
And the Winner is…Bowhunters used to need a higher deer IQ to be successful. With the advent of top-notch clothing, box blinds, the popularity of food plots and baiting, and the ever-increasing demand to lock up land, that has leveled off quite a bit.
There are probably more serious bowhunters than serious rifle hunters, but making that case would be tough given the participation differences, and it doesn’t really matter. The best hunters out there are students of the game, regardless of weapon choice.
Maybe this is old-fashioned, but a dedication to woodsmanship matters, a lot. This is something that only comes from one source—experience. You can’t buy it. You can’t really learn it from watching how-to content on YouTube. It’s the secret to leveling up your whitetail game, and it comes in the general form of learning deer and the environment in which you hunt them. Weapon choice will influence your style in different ways, but without that foundational level of understanding, you need a lot of luck.
There is no clear winner. Good hunters are just good hunters, regardless of whether they aim with cross-hairs or a sight pin.
If you’re in the mood to do a little shopping and save a lot of money on sweet deer gear, check out our Whitetail Week Sale right here.
For more whitetail hunting info, check out these articles: 3 Blood Trailing Mistakes That Could Cost You A Buck, How Much Does Broadhead Choice Really Matter for Whitetail Hunters?, and Why You’re Not Successful Hunting Public Land.
For Southern hunters, it can be easy to compare the differences between the smaller whitetails of the South and the big-bodied brutes of the Northeast or Midwest. Throw in the fact that most hunting media centers around large, privately owned ag country in the Midwest, and Southern hunters start to think that their hunting grounds are barren wastelands, void of quality deer (whatever that means). Once this mentality sets in, the temptation is to then make excuses about deer sightings, shooting any legal deer, or, God forbid, years’ long big buck skids.
The truth is, we’re often the reason we don’t experience successful deer hunting. I realize this looks different depending on where you hunt. However, if you subscribe to the hunting myths circulating at deer camp or your local convenience store, you might as well go sit that same box blind or eat your tag soup now. Some of these myths can apply to deer hunters across the country, but they’re common gripes or excuses I’ve heard over the years below the Mason Dixon.
It’s Too Hot for Deer MovementSure, I might consider this excuse if I lived somewhere that consistently snowed every year, but I’m always baffled when hunters in the deep South say it. If this were the case, Florida’s deer herd would die of starvation and bed sores. In my home state of Mississippi, I’ve seen more than a few Christmas vacations with 70° days, but I’ve never known the rut to pause because of it. Even in the early season, when daytime temps can reach the mid-90s, I’ve killed or seen plenty of deer working their typical patterns.
Deer might not move as far when the temps are up, but that doesn’t mean they’re not moving at all. In fact, a study from Mississippi State University shows that deer actually move several times throughout the day (even when it’s hot), not just at dusk and dawn.
Whether you’re hunting your state’s bow opener or the rut, you shouldn’t see warm temps as a reason to stay home. In fact, if you hunt public land this should give you even more incentive to hit the woods. Most folks will stay home or save their vacation days because they believe this very myth. The truth is most hunters don’t want to deal with the heat, mosquitos, and snakes. If you can stomach these hurdles, you’ll separate yourself from the crowds and hopefully have good hunting.
Deer Only Bed in the Thickest AreasThe South has no shortage of bedding areas. The extensive growing seasons and lack of frigid temps mean you can find good cover and food in just about any direction. Compared to other parts of the country, like the Midwest, ideal cover in Iowa doesn’t necessarily equate to optimal cover in Alabama.
For instance, some of the best bedding habitat in the deep South consists of young pine plantations, privet hedge thickets, canebrakes, etc. These areas typically provide excellent cover, travel, and food. However, that doesn’t mean they’re the only habitat types deer will use in the South.
In fact, deer will bed anywhere that has good screening cover. Screening cover might be a cutover, but it could also be a small blowdown. Or, it might be a point on a ridge with a few young pine saplings that gives a deer a scent or visual advantage. Just because a deer has access to a 70-acre cutover for bedding, doesn’t mean he has to bed there. If a buck, or any deer, feels comfortable in a certain spot, they’ll use it. While it’s anecdata, I’ve bumped bucks from patches of cover that were no more than twenty yards wide. Still, it’s happened enough that I don’t go busting through them before glassing into them.
Deer Get Enough Water From VegetationThis one isn’t completely wrong, but it deserves unpacking. Yes, the deep South experiences a ton of rain, and some places even rival a tropical forest. Deer can get a lot of their daily water intake from the vegetation they eat. Like bedding cover, the deer don’t have to look far to get a drink. While they might not have to find a sole water source within a few miles like more arid parts of the country, deer still have to drink water.
I probably wouldn’t make a game plan around water as a drinking source for deer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. While the South gets plenty of rain, you can bet on a drought at some point in the year. If that’s the case, I might consider water as a viable tactic.
A few years ago, I was struggling to find deer and deer sign on a new piece of public. That October was extremely dry and that included most of the creek beds. I found one stretch of that creek that held a large puddle of water, and it was loaded with fresh tracks. I ended up killing a doe the next day on that creek. While that probably wouldn’t factor into my usual tactics, the conditions dictated otherwise.
I Have to Bait Because the Neighbors DoLet’s get this out of the way. I’m not debating the moral/ecological significance of baiting. To be honest, I don’t really care either way.
Across many of the Gulf Coast states, baiting is legal on private lands. I remember when my state legalized it and many folks who were on the fence or even opposed to it, eventually started baiting. They’d typically say something like, “well, if I don’t bait the neighbors will kill all the deer.” Ironically, these folks and their neighbors both started baiting and the deer population is still thriving today. It’s funny, I never hear anyone complain about their neighbor having a ton of white oaks and how they’ll have to plant some to keep the deer from making a mass exodus to the next property.
Not to use hard facts and data again, but research shows that even most food plots don’t alter deer bedding or travel, much less convince them to leave a property entirely. Just because your neighbor puts a new feeder up doesn’t mean the deer will vanish. Instead, ask yourself if your property has enough cover for deer to bed and travel during daylight hours. When the months-long gun seasons of the South open, deer will have a pretty good pattern of your neighbors’ hunting schedule. If your property can offer them a safe haven away from the feeders and gunslingers, you’re probably better off not running bait anyway.
The Deer Hunting Just Isn’t Good Around HereThis myth can apply to anywhere, but it especially applies to the deep South. I don’t know many folks who have Louisiana on their bucket lists, so I can understand the sentiment. While there might not be a Pope & Young behind every tree, that hardly means the deer hunting is trash. Too many hunters believe they live in a mature buck black hole, and that myth probably keeps those mature bucks alive. In reality, I think most folks lean on this crutch because they don’t want to put in the work it requires.
I have a friend who lives a few miles from a large, well-managed wildlife management area. He’s never hunted it, despite having lived near it for almost a decade. He loves to hunt, but because the county he lives in isn’t known for mega bucks, he’s written it off. Instead of hunting close to home he drives two hours to hunt a much smaller private property that probably offers him slightly higher odds at a similar class buck. In reality, I know my friend doesn’t want to deal with other hunters or the constant scouting public land often requires. He’d much rather go somewhere he can drive a four wheeler or sit in a pre-hung stand. In other words, it’s more work than he wants to put in. This is totally fine if that’s your style, but don’t label the hunting in your area as garbage when you haven’t given it an earnest effort.
Whether you live in the South or not, deer hunting myths can cripple your chances of actually killing a deer that you’d be happy to shoot. At the very least, they’ll rob your hunting joy. I don’t subscribe to the idea of manifesting things, but belief is a powerful tool. I think if you really want to make the most of something, you have to put in the work, and this includes deer hunting.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
Hunting with Steve Rinella sucks, but blood trailing with him does not.
There’s a level of pressure to hunting with a guy who started the company you work for. If you’re ever tasked with finding a concentration of public land deer, and then putting your boss’s boss on them, you’ll see what I mean.
But when a bad hit happens, you’ll want a guy like him on the trail. Some folks have a been-there-done-that attitude on tracking jobs that just makes it easy to understand they expect a tough go of it, and are ready for the task. They go slow, fall into a natural leader/follower cadence, and they take the whole thing very seriously.
Others? Not so much. Not only can that be annoying, it can cost you your buck. There are several telltale signs of these behaviors, and they almost always start with a metaphorical focus on the gas pedal but rarely the brakes.
Mistake 1: Going Too FastAs I get older, I’m starting to realize that the cheat code to being a good hunter is just being patient. This applies to time on stand, of course. But it also applies to post-shot activities. We all generally know how long to wait after certain kinds of hits, but we also know that all-day sits are the secret sauce to rut success. Both rarely happen.
The best word to describe the pace of your blood trailing should be "glacial."
It’s easy to walk out of the woods and say that you’re not coming back for eight hours because your arrow is covered in gut material. It’s another thing to give it the full eight hours, especially when you start thinking about how warm it’s going to get, or how many coyotes you believe live in your region, or whatever.
Patience is a virtue before taking up the trail, but it’s absolutely necessary when you start following blood. Resist the urge to walk 20 yards ahead to scan for your dead deer. Resist the urge to invite a bunch of extra buddies on the trail because that just creates competition to find the next spot of blood.
Take your time. If the deer is dead, it won’t get any deader. If it’s not, you won’t do yourself any favors catching up to it quickly. The best trick you can learn to be a more competent blood trailer is to remind yourself to slow way, way down, and then keep going slow. This only works if everyone who is searching with you is on the same page.
Mistake 2: Losing FocusBlood trailing a wounded deer is mostly a physical skill, yet we try to make it academic. We think about whether the buck is likely to go uphill or head to the nearest source of water. We assume he’ll beeline it straight for the best bedding because why wouldn’t he? We fill in a lot of the blanks, but none of our mental gymnastics outshine the simple truth of the spoor.
All your mental energy should be spent on one thing: the next drop of blood.
During most difficult tracking jobs, the best bet is to forget about having long conversations about possibilities and instead point your mental horsepower in a different direction. The sign doesn’t lie, and in most cases, it’s safe to assume that the blood won’t fully dry up.
Entrance and exit wounds can plug up with fat or intestines, and they can stop leaking. High hits with no exit can produce sparse clues to go on, while the chest cavity fills up but doesn’t drip much. A lot of things can happen, but it’s best to assume there is always a next spot of blood. A lot of hunters go the opposite route and too quickly declare a trail spoor-free. Put your effort into always finding the next bit of sign until you’re absolutely sure it won’t be found.
Mistake 3: Messing Up the GridA grid is a bunch of squares stacked around one another. It’s a geometric pattern that, on paper, looks like the best way to cover ground. It certainly can be, but rarely do we actually grid-search when we give up on the blood and start looking for a body.
If you’re at this point and don’t have a way to enlist the help of a tracking dog, grid searching is the move. The key is to actually plan out routes and stick to them. People have the tendency to walk where the walking is easiest, and this means the straight lines that should make up the routes tend to grow wiggly in a hurry.
A grid search sounds easy while looking at a map, but it's much more difficult to execute in the field.
Use onX or whatever you have to do to keep everyone on track, and then methodically cover the ground. Keep track of where everyone walks, and use that to customize the expansion of your search. Routes should be planned around the thickness of cover. Searching an overgrown river bottom will demand tight routes, while things can open up when you’re in a grazed pasture or a cut bean field.
Think the process through, and keep everyone accountable for their roles. If your buck is dead and not three counties away, this is the move to recover him when it feels like most hope is lost.
For more deer hunting information, check out these articles: Unpacked: K.C. Smith’s Early Season Gear Setup, How To Call In Early Season Bucks, and Why You’re Not Successful Hunting Public Land.
Deer hunting the South presents unique habitat challenges that differ from traditional deer country. The abundance of bedding and sheer deer numbers can make for a frustratingly good time. Whether you’re hunting public or privately leased land, the timber market and old-growth forests can be tough to hunt when it comes to picking the right tree during bow season. After all, in the gently rolling (or downright flat) and monotonous big woods of the South, deer travel can seem random and unpredictable. Yet, southern deer are still deer, which means they’ll still behave like their much huskier kinfolk of the North. They’ll still use edges, terrain features (even subtle ones), and anchors to navigate the landscape, but these travel routes might just prove a bit more challenging to locate.
Finding these travel routes and terrain features requires boots-on-the-ground scouting, as most of them won’t stand out on a map. However, locating SMZs can be done anywhere if you’ve got an e-map handy. These travel routes, staging areas, and rut hubs are versatile landscape features that can foster deer travel all year long, if you know what to look for.
What are SMZsWhile you might not be familiar with the term, you’ve probably seen an SMZ, especially if you hunt in the South. Streamside Management Zones (SMZs) are the long strips of timber, typically hardwoods, along creeks, ditches, etc., that timber companies leave after clearcutting a timber stand.
SMZs are typically left to preserve the water quality of these streams or creeks, promote habitat diversity, and provide travel corridors for wildlife. While they can be as narrow as fifty feet, I’ve hunted SMZs that spanned nearly a hundred yards. The size of an SMZ is usually at the mercy of the timber company, but even small ones are easy to spot.
E-scoutingSMZs are easy to spot on digital maps like OnX, but this becomes a double-edged sword for obvious reasons. If you can quickly find a banging SMZ, you can bet other folks have it pinned, too. Still, like other terrain and habitat features, some are better than others.
There’s a general rule of thumb when it comes to scouting SMZs: the more diversity, the better. This might include habitat and/or terrain diversity. For instance, if you spot an SMZ that runs through a three- to six-year-old pine thicket, and the head of that SMZ opens to some type of soft edge, that’s a great place to start.
Similarly, you might find an SMZ running through that same type of landscape, except the head of that SMZ dumps into a thermal hub, where the base of multiple ridges meet. This can be a challenging yet dynamite spot to hunt.
E-scouting can only give you so much data. Once you map out a few SMZs, you’ll need to physically scout them to determine which ones deserve a few sits. While SMZs can provide year-round deer traffic, this doesn’t mean they’ll stay hot 24/7. Finding an SMZ isn’t the end goal. You’ll need to find fresh sign or pull a few observation sits to get the scoop.
The Early SeasonIf you’re scouting an SMZ during the early season, your game plan probably involves acorns, and rightly so. Food plots in the South are typically a non-factor during the month of October, especially on public lands. Natural browse and acorns dominate the common big woods landscape, and SMZs can provide both food and cover that deer, especially bucks, require. SMZs tend to open into large, open tracts of timber, which makes them great staging areas if they provide enough cover.
Because deer will stage or even bed in SMZs, you should try to locate one with a hot feed tree during the week leading to your season’s opener. You’ll have to walk into these areas to find the freshest sign. Look for water oaks (white oaks if they’re dropping) and fresh—not dry—scat. If the ground and leaves look turned over, but the droppings are dry, time to move on from that tree, at least. That doesn’t mean the deer won’t still stage there before heading into the open timber, but you’ll need to locate where they’re entering the SMZ from the surrounding cover.
The Rut SMZs can provide excellent security cover for bucks traveling during the rut because they typically divide thick bedding areas. Bucks will travel through an SMZ on the downwind side of adjacent bedding. This makes it easy for them to scent-check bedding areas without having to wade through a sea of pines. Several years ago, I shot a buck doing just that. He came through the head of the SMZ into a larger stand of pines on the downwind side of a food plot. He was able to scent check both the bedding and food plot while traveling parallel to a creek until I shot him at thirty yards.
They’re also dynamite rut spots down South because they provide excellent doe bedding during the rut, which can fall anywhere from early December to late January, depending on your location. Leaves are gone this time of year, and the cover is sparse, so doe groups typically flock to young pine stands if they’re not already there. For this same reason, SMZs make great late-season options, too. If you’re planning a few all-day rut sits, a good SMZ with a community scrape and thick, young pine stand might pay off. Then again, SMZs can be a safe bet any time of year.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
I’m starting to believe that the reason whitetail hunters leave so many tags unfilled every season is that we expect hunting to be easy, but it almost never is. There is a fuzzy but important delineation between the reality in which we actually hunt and our notion of how a hunt is going to go.
This happens a lot in the early season. We expect the summertime bachelor groups to stick to their schedules and walk by us on opening night. When they don’t, we dig in our heels and double down during the next sit. If you go into the season with a plan that hinges on sitting a single food source, you’re likely to be disappointed. There’s more to early-season hunting than posting up on a kill plot or an alfalfa field, but it takes an open mind and a flexible strategy.
There’s Nothing Wrong With Being Wrong When we build hitlists during the summer and then craft an early season plan, we tend to ignore one crucial issue–July deer aren’t September deer. They can be, and when they stick to the program, it’s wonderful. They mostly don’t, and there are a litany of reasons why.
Human presence in the woods is a big factor. The changing of food sources is another. Bachelor groups breaking up and going from friends to enemies have a huge influence on September hunting. All of this is to say that early-season deer hunting is a far more dynamic situation than we think.
The time to pick a spot and volume hunt it is during the rut. The time to abandon a program for something new is September. If the deer don’t do what you expect them to, that’s okay. Acknowledge that, and accept the fact that you’re going to have to go find them and make a new play.
Where They Are Now I hunt near my house in central Minnesota quite a bit in the early season, but I also hunt a couple hours east of here in Wisconsin. The difference in deer behavior should be minimal, but it’s not. The two areas are vastly different, and what deer do in the two areas is vastly different (even during the same weeks).
It’s always a good reminder to me that I have to meet the deer where they are. I can’t rely on them to be on the pattern I want them to be on, but instead have to go find them and hunt them on their terms.
This is a hard thing to accept. We want our hunts to happen the way we thought they would all summer long when we checked our cameras and scouted, but that’s not how it works. One oak tree, one tread-too-heavy hunter in the woods, or one warm front that blows in on a Friday can all wipe the slate clean.
The good news about this is that if you actively go to scout and hunt where the deer are now, you won’t have much company. Most hunters treat the early season as a time when the deer activity is known and predictable. This makes their moves in the woods as predictable as they expect the deer to be.
The hunter who recognizes a need to go scout out the first rubs of the season or where a concentration of droppings are is ahead of the game by a long shot. After that, it’s a matter of trusting the deer to tell you everything you need to know.
Hunters Lie, Deer Don’tA deer that walks along a fencerow and munches some apples is telling the truth. The bucks that stage in the woods until dark before hitting the groceries are telling the truth. Their sign, their movements, they aren’t lies. Believe them when they show you something.
Where this gets tricky is that we think we know more than we do. We know the early season bucks should be doing this or that, so we tend to elevate our beliefs over what the deer sign actually indicates. The best hunters out there learn to just go with it, and while they use woodsmanship to scout and find the best setups, they keep their minds open to the most current deer activity.
On paper, this seems so simple.
In real life, it’s hard. It wasn’t until about the last 10 years that I started to truly allow myself to abandon my preconceived notions about a hunt and just go with the deer flow. This has helped me kill a pile of bucks, too, and it seems particularly valuable on my public land hunts.
The early season is one stretch of the deer season when we all think we know exactly what the bucks will be doing. They often have other plans, and this messes with us. Learn to trust what the deer show you enough to tamp down your ego and go with it. It’s harder than it sounds, but it’s also one of the best ways to shoot a September buck.
It’s also, a great skill to have for all deer hunters, regardless of the timing of the season, weapon choice, astrological sign, or anything else that might influence a hunt.
For more early season whitetail hunting info, check out these articles: How to Call in Early Season Bucks, How Much Does Broadhead Choice Really Matter For Whitetail Hunters?, and How to Kill a Whitetail Buck on Opening Day.
As much as I love hunting gear and testing it, there’s no correlation between new purchases and killing a Boone and Crockett caliber deer. Unless maybe that purchase happens to be a large farm in Iowa. Otherwise, anything you can get in stores can’t guarantee you a big buck, or any deer for that matter.
But that doesn’t mean hunting gear can’t make you a more comfortable or efficient hunter. After all, if something enhances your hunting experience or keeps you outdoors longer, I’d say it’s probably worth the time and money. While there are plenty of gimmicks and marketing scams that promise to make you a better hunter, there are certain pieces of gear that will serve you well in the field.
With October 1 approaching fast, you should be fine-tuning your gear setups. It takes multiple seasons to figure out what works for you, and you’ll typically find that you could probably lose a few pounds from your pack. Whether you’re hunting out of your backdoor or traveling across state lines, your gear needs will vary. Even as seasonal conditions change, so will your gear needs.
But don’t just take it from me. I interviewed The Element’s K.C. Smith on his go-to gear choices during the early season. If you’re not familiar with K.C. Smith, head over to YouTube, where you can see him notch his tag on more than a few big bucks across the states. For now, here’s a rundown of what he’s carrying in the early season.
Hunting PackIt’s only appropriate to start with K.C.’s hunting pack. After all, you need something to carry your gear in. Smith prefers the First Lite Transfer Pack, but not just for the early season. He uses it throughout the year and swaps out gear and layers as the conditions change. It’s a multi-season pack that intuitively keeps all his gear within reach for both the walk-in or long sits in the tree.
Base Layers and ClothingEarly season hunting requires a mental toughness and willingness to deal with the heat. That’s why most folks wait for the mercury to drop before heading into the field. For these reasons, solid hunting clothes are necessary to keep you dry and cool when you’re trying to glass up an early-season buck.
“If it’s super hot, I’ll wear the Yuma stuff, it’s really cool,” Smith said. “If it’s colder for some reason, I typically wear a lightweight merino hoody. For pants, I love the 308 because they’re heavy-duty, and I’m usually busting through brush or briars that time of year.”
Smith said he always keeps the Source jacket handy, just in case there’s a cool snap. He prefers it, because it zips up, which makes it easy to quickly throw on during last light when the temps drop.
BinosSmith hunts a lot of states with early September openers. Most of these states lie west of the Mississippi in open country, where glassing plays a huge role in having a successful hunt, so it pays to have some of the best binoculars in tow.
Whether he’s glassing from the truck or in the stand, he prefers the Sig Zulu6 binocular. “I really like these because I do a lot of scouting from the road in the early season,” he said. “The Zulu’s are stabilizing binoculars, and they’re super crisp, even if the truck’s still moving.”
HydrationHot temps come complimentary with the early season. If you’re hunting any distance from the truck, hydration is a must. You can get as technical or convenient as you need. K.C. Smith keeps it somewhere in between.
“I’ve never been a hydration bladder guy,” Smith said. “I typically run a Nalgene bottle. If you’re in a pinch, the Smart Water bottles work great and won’t crinkle.”
Whether you prefer the convenience of a hydration bladder or a water bottle, just make sure you have more water than you think you’ll need.
Bino Chest HarnessWhile they’re not a prerequisite to hunting, bino harnesses have become a critical piece of gear in the whitetail woods. FHF has multiple chest rigs to choose from, but Smith prefers the FOB.
“Right now, I’m using the FOB from FHF Gear, and I love it,” he said. “I added the rangefinder pocket and actually mounted it on the strap instead of the MOLLE loops.” Smith prefers this mounting method because he said it orients the rangefinder to a more natural position when you’re in the stand or saddle. “It helps cut down on the motion, and that matters when you’ve got deer in range.”
BootsDepending on where you hunt will determine what type of hunting boots you need. Smith likes to switch it up occasionally but prefers a hiker for warmer temps.
“I really like the LaCrosse Lodestars,” he said. “They’re lightweight and breathable, but if I wear rubber boots, I’ll typically wear the uninsulated Alpha Agility.”
Other Key ItemsI asked Smith if there were any smaller items he doesn’t leave the truck without. He quickly tabbed the First Lite Talus fingerless gloves.
“I really like those for protection, but I wear them all year,” he said. “I actually shoot better with those on. I think it’s because of the way it allows me to position and tighten my release.”
He noted a few other items, which included a wind checker (he prefers milkweed), an ink pen for paper tags, and some sort of caffeine packet he can easily mix in his water bottle. Other than these items, Smith prefers to travel light.
“I try not to carry a ton in the field unless I’m pulling an all-day sit,” he said. “I think light and fast is the way to go, and that’s the way I approach it.”
Smith’s last recommendation for early-season gear—socks. Sure, they’re not the sexiest piece of gear, but you can’t truly appreciate good socks until you’ve trudged around in bad (or wet) ones.
“During the early season, you either get wet or sweaty and having an extra pair of dry socks sure is nice.”
As the old saying goes, “There’s a time for everything,” and yes, that includes running shots. Yet, the thought of shooting at running game sparks rage in plenty of hunters and overzealous keyboard warriors who are quick to raise questions of ethicality and intellect (poor deer-dog hunters of the South will never catch a break).
The concept appears outdated, especially in an age of precision rifles and ultra-specific scopes that require an encyclopedic amount of knowledge to operate. But if there’s anything we can learn from a century’s worth of big woods rifle designs, it’s that running shots were expected. Cool as they look, pump, semi-auto, and lever action rifles weren’t meant for the bench. They were designed for quick, close-range shots or necessary follow-ups that accompany still-hunts, man drives, or deer-dog runs.
Whether you jump a bedded buck or whiff on the first crack, it helps to feel confident when you shoot at running game. Sure, there are times when you have no business shooting at a running animal, but that doesn’t mean you should never do it. You might think you’re above shooting at a deer that’s running—until you jump a big buck from his bed at fifteen yards. Rather than botching the opportunity or wounding the animal, you can practice the running shot and prepare yourself when the opportunity arises.
PracticeLike stationary shots, the ethicality of shooting at running game depends on the situation. The question isn’t if you should take a running shot but when. I know many people write them off altogether. Most folks claim that they’re irresponsible and a sign of bad sportsmanship. But, is it less ethical to take a running shot when you’ve spent several sessions practicing at the range? Or is it more ethical to shoot a deer that’s standing still when you only shot three rounds to make sure your scope was still “on” from last season? What about us bowhunters? We’re quick to pass judgment and just as quick to try and thread the needle in the closing minutes of shooting light.
Many hunters don’t take running shots because they never prepare for them. If this is you, kudos for exercising self-control. Unfortunately, the same is true for hunters that regularly wound or miss running game. Regardless of which camp you fall in, more intentional time at the range can help prepare you.
It might be difficult to simulate a running animal if you don’t have access to moving targets, but there are other rifle drills to help with this. For starters, you should practice shooting offhand (you should be doing this anyway). Try shooting targets at 50 and 100 yards while standing up. You should take multiple shots so you can get comfortable cycling your rifle’s action. Too often, hunters just shoot from the bench. This is great if you need to zero your rifle, but it doesn’t exactly translate to awkward offhand shots that occur in the field.
Beyond that, you can replicate these same running shots by safely conducting dryfire drills or using a shot timer. You can even practice shooting offhand by starting with your rifle at your side, shouldering it, and then cycling a few rounds. Your first few groups might be discouraging, but the more time you spend doing this, the better they’ll get.
The RundownWhen it’s actually time to shoot at a running animal, there are a few ways to do this. If you’re in open country like an ag field or vast prairie, you’ll want to use a sustained lead or swing-through method.
A sustained lead requires you to track the animal with your sight or crosshairs on the vitals and continue to swing your rifle through the shot after you pull the trigger. If you stop your swing, you’ll shoot behind the deer. This is ideal for slower-moving animals and a method that deer-dog hunters typically implore. Whether you’re using one of the best red dots or an LPVO scope, you’ll want to practice keeping the rifle moving after the shot.
Another option is the swing-through shot. For this maneuver, you’ll need to consider how far and fast the animal is moving. It requires you to swing in front of the animal, pulling the trigger just as the sights pass in front of the target. Because you’re waiting on the timing of the swing rather than the specific placement of the animal, shots in areas with high stem count are less ideal.
If you’re hunting in timbered areas, your best bet is to pick a window and wait for the animal to get there. Otherwise, you’ll kill a few saplings. Keep your sights on an opening that you anticipate the deer to run through. You’ll want to keep both your eyes open so you can still keep track of the deer in your peripherals. With your sights lined up in the window, pull the trigger as soon as the deer comes into your sight picture.
All of these methods require instinctive shooting that can only be learned through repetition. Practice these shots enough, and they’ll feel second nature. That way, when you bump a deer on his feet, you can feel confident if you decide to take the shot.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
Summer scouting, especially in the deep South, is my least favorite time to be in the woods. I’ll think of any excuse not to deal with the humidity, cottonmouths, and an endless string of spiderwebs. During the summer months, the woods and air are thicker than they’ll be all year.
As much as I prefer to save my scouting trips for the month of February, I know there’s valuable intel in summer scouting. While it might be difficult to spot the typical sexy deer sign like last year’s scrapes and rubs, there are plenty of other sign you’ll find summer scouting that can help you tag a deer on opening day.
Creek CrossingsCreek crossings can provide year-round info, but especially in the summer months. Because there’s so much moisture along the Gulf Coast states, deer might not rely on water sources as they do in dry, arid parts of the country unless it’s a drought year. Regardless, deer use creeks and creek crossings to navigate the landscape.
Look for bends in the creek or low spots that provide easy crossings for deer. These places are typically littered with tracks, and you’ll usually find a few rubs at these crossings as well. They’re also great places to drop a trail camera if you’re into that kind of thing.
However, the crossing location will determine whether that spot deserves a sit or not. If you find a creek bank that looks like a highway, but you’re several hundred yards from any cover or bedding, it’s probably nighttime activity (at least for bucks). This is a great starting point, but you’ll want to backtrack to the nearest cover to see where you can actually hang a set. That crossing probably gives you a shot opportunity, but it can point you in the right direction.
MastLate summer is a great time to scout for hard or soft mast-producing trees. If you’ve got some of the best binoculars, break them out and scour the tree tops. Down South, water oaks are typically the first acorn-producing trees to drop, followed by the preferred white oak. If you plan to hunt around acorns in the early season, finding one of the few water oaks that drops first can help you punch a tag on opening day.
Water oaks typically start dropping mid-late September, so if you find a tree that’s already dropping, you might have found your opening day spot. Just like creek crossings, be mindful of its location relative to bedding, and don’t push in all your chips on one tree. Things change quickly this time of year, and a hot tree today might be a dry one the next.
CutoversUnless you live in the Delta or the limited ag country in the South, glassing isn’t really a scouting option. In most places, you’re lucky if you can see fifty feet off the road, thanks to the privet hedge and yaupon. If you’re hunting public land down here, you’re probably dealing with the big woods. However, the benefit of living in the land of the pines is that there’s never a shortage of cutovers, which make excellent glassing locations depending on the age of the cut. Cuts with two- to four-year-old pines are ideal.
Because cutovers have thick vegetation, you’ll want to get elevated to glass. This is a great time to test out your new saddle, but climbing tree stands also make for super comfortable glassing sessions. If you can, climb a tree that overlooks a cutover, preferably with the sun at your back. Cutovers that have a natural elevation change make it easy to glass multiple points in them.
If possible, position yourself where you can glass the edges of any SMZs (streamside management zones) running through the clearcut. These are areas along creeks, streams, or wetlands where you’ll find a strip of hardwoods running through the pines or cut. If you’re dealing with a new clearcut, these are the areas that look like the timber company randomly left a strip of trees. Deer bed and travel along these SMZs year round, but especially in the warmer months when they might prefer shady cover.
Not only can these SMZs key you into deer movement, but they can also be dynamite travel hubs during the rut. So, even though you’re scouting during the summer, it can pay off when the leaves are gone.
Plant Now, Reap LaterThis might seem like an easy and obvious play, but even if you don’t plan on using summer intel for the early season, you can do yourself a favor by putting cameras in places where you anticipate the deer to show up later in the season.
For example, if you have historical data on a particular piece of land, then you probably know what the deer do during certain time frames. Set your camera there now to minimize your presence later, especially if you’re running cellular trail cameras.
Last ShotWhile shooting your bow or dialing in your rifle is a necessary summer chore, a few purposeful scouting trips can be just as effective. Instead of fumbling around on opening day, you’ll actually have an idea of what’s going on and might even punch a tag.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
Most whitetail hunters go shoulder-deep in their bag of tricks during the rut. That’s when the rattle bags, grunt tubes, bottles of doe pee, and other products get a real workout. While there’s no denying that the rut is a good time to try to enhance your setup, there’s also no denying that some tricks work outside of the rut.
Calling is one of them.
Deer are social, vocal critters. They don’t hold long conversations, but they do talk all year long. This is something savvy deer hunters try to capitalize on, and it can work really well in the early season. You just need to know what to say.
Tickle, TickleI’ve only seen a handful of five-round, championship buck fights while on stand. Not a single one happened in November. Most of those battles happened in October, often earlier in the month than you’d expect. But a few of them happened in September. The wildest sparked up between two young Minnesota deer that threw down all around my stand and ended when one buck knocked the other ass-over-apple-cart down a hill.
While you might get lucky and rattle up a big one in the early season by making it sound like there’s a two-deer war raging near you, a better bet is to use a softer touch. September and early October are transition times in the deer woods, which means bucks either get sick of one another or they meet newbies in their neighborhood.
This can result in a brawl, but mostly fizzles out after a light shoving match. If you want to rattle in a deer weeks before the rut, go soft. Imagine two bucks meeting up in a beanfield in the evening or bumping into one another on their way back to bed in the early morning. They often test each other out but won’t go into berserker mode. If you’ve done your scouting homework and are confident you’re around bucks, give them something to think about through light rattling. It doesn’t always work, but when it does, they often wander in and pose up.
Hey You, Yeah YouMaybe the most effective way to talk an early-season buck into bow range is through grunting. This is not the time for a long string of tending grunts. This is contact grunt time, where you can see your target buck. Leave the blind calling for November.
If you lay eyes on a buck, especially one that doesn’t seem to be in a hurry, give him a sharp grunt. Try to make it only as loud as it needs to be for him to hear it, and then watch his reaction. If he doesn’t pick his head up, turn up the volume slightly.
When he finally picks his head up, shut up. Wait for him to show you something. Often, they’ll go right back to what they were doing. If he does, give him the same grunt. Lather, rinse, and repeat this until he either starts to walk away or starts to come in. If he starts to walk in, shut up. Don’t call anymore. He’ll get there.
If he walks away, don’t get desperate. Either it just wasn’t meant to be, or he’s going to come in later. This happens often enough that you should pay close attention to where he walks off. He might just be circling downwind.
I Triple Dog Dare YouThe amount of bucks I’ve snort-wheezed into range during September and early October is much higher than the bucks I’ve snort-wheezed in during November. This goes against conventional wisdom, but I think conventional wisdom around snort-wheezing is often Grade-A bullshit.
This is not just a mature buck call, and it’s not just a rut thing. It’s a challenge call, sure. But deer challenge each other often, especially throughout the fall leading up to the pre-rut. My best luck at snort-wheezing at early-season bucks happened when a few things lined up. The first is that it seems to work better on loner bucks, even scrappers. I don’t know why, that’s just how it has gone for me.
Snort wheezing also seems to work best when a buck can’t quickly survey the scene and deduce there is no other deer there. Open-ish woods, where you spot a buck working his way through, seems to be an ideal setup. Field-edge bucks can be snort-wheezed in too, but they are more likely to look around and then leave.
The key thing here is to not only understand how this call can work but when you should use it. Honestly, that’s the key to talking in early-season bucks with grunt tubes and rattle bags, too.
If you need some new deer calls or other early-season gear, check out the Season Opener Sale right here.
For more early-season deer hunting info, check out these articles: 3 Overlooked Food Sources For Early-Season Whitetails, What To Do When Your Early Season Deer Plan Blows Up, and 6 States To Target Velvet Bucks.
There are a lot of reasons bowhunters lose deer. Very few of those reasons stem from true equipment issues. Most of the time, it’s just us doing our jobs poorly because our brains can’t handle the moment of truth (or we rush through the blood-trailing process).
While the talk about broadhead failures has died down from the days when mechanicals really started to take off, you still hear about them just not doing their job. My role as an Equipment Editor for a bowhunting magazine was timed perfectly with the rise of broadheads with moving parts, so I got to try a lot of them out.
A few failed, for real. In fact, I watched my arrow bounce right off of the ribs of a doe one evening while hunting from the ground in Minnesota. When I picked my arrow up, the broadhead grooves were stuffed full of hair. It was wild.
I tried a lot of different broadheads in that time period of my life, and most performed as advertised. That’s when it started to dawn on me that we sometimes overstate the importance of broadhead choice when it comes to whitetail hunting.
The Tradeoff DebateThere are two factions of bowhunters when it comes to broadheads. The first wants the biggest holes they can get in their deer, which necessitates expandable with serious cutting diameters. This is nice for obvious reasons, but it comes in real handy if you pull your shot and hit a deer in the guts. Or if something happens where you accidentally hit too high, too low, or really anywhere marginal.
The other faction is terrified of a buck’s shoulder and highly suspect of any moving parts on the business end of their arrows. They want a bombproof fixed blade that will make it through bone and into the good stuff. They reason, correctly I might add, that they’ll kill a deer just fine with a gut shot as well, it just might take a bit longer. They also know they might not get horror-movie-gore level blood trails, but they don’t care. Reliable is good, and dead is, well, dead.
If there is a third category of broadhead loyalists, I’m in it. I want my broadheads to be constructed out of high-end materials, and I want them to fly really well. I honestly don’t care a whole lot whether they are mechanicals or fixed-blade heads. I want them to be durable, super sharp, and to hit where I aim.
How To Choose The Right Broadhead For You If you want durable (you do), then the easiest way to filter through broadheads is to spend up. I hate to use price in any advice, because immediately, people will push back on the idea that a $50 broadhead is any different than a $15 broadhead. While the argument could be made you’re paying up for a brand name associated with quality, the truth is that durability comes with better materials. Better materials allow for more durability, and they also allow for tighter tolerances.
Just like with match-grade rifle ammo, all of the arrows in your quiver need to fly the same way. The tighter the tolerances on your broadheads, the more likely this is to happen. I look at this like I look at the shotgun shells I buy for pheasants. Cheap target loads need not apply. For maybe $50 bucks a season, I have a bit of insurance on tough, late-season birds that do their best to burrow in the cattails if they don’t die quickly enough.
Broadheads are similar. There are a lot of ways to save money on bowhunting gear, but broadheads are not a category where you want to be a cheapskate. Skip the bottles of doe pee, forget the scent-eliminating sprays, do what you need to. Don’t go cheap on broadheads if you don’t have to.
The benefits are many and won’t amount to much of an extra spend on any given season. Plus, if you’ve ever had a cheapie fall apart or just not work the way it’s supposed to, you know how much you would have paid for a better option at that moment.
How To Test Broadheads YourselfFixed broadheads with replaceable blades, or those that can be hand-sharpened at home, are awesome because you can shoot them into targets and see how they fly. Some mechanicals allow you to lock down blades and practice with them as well. Seeing how well every arrow flies with a broadhead screwed in is an eye-opener, and an absolutely necessary pre-season step, in my opinion.
But that’s just part of the equation. You also want to take a long look at how they perform when you shoot deer. Are you getting two holes, no problem? Or are your arrows getting hung up in the chest cavity of normal-sized whitetails? How are your blood trails? The real performance of your setup is how they fly and how they go through deer. It’s that simple.
Pay attention to your broadhead’s performance. It’s easy to look at things in a rosie way if the deer died, but do a necropsy. Check out the broadhead’s blades after the shot. Pay attention to all aspects of performance. This will inform your choice in the future on whether to stick with what you have or branch out to something that might perform better for you.
For more bowhunting info, check out these articles: How to Develop a Reliable Pattern on Summertime Bucks, 6 States to Target Velvet Bucks, and Practice Like A Deer Hunter, Not A Target Shooter.
There are three things you can do better to be more consistently successful on public land. Number one, improve your e-scouting.
It might sound counterintuitive, but to be better at e-scouting, you have to put dirt under your boots. By combining e-scouting on the maps with seeing it in person, you’ll begin to correlate the map and the landscape with more ease and efficiency. Then, when you get back home and are scouting maps late at night in bed before you go to sleep on a weeknight, you'll know what to look for.
People often ask me about how to locate bedding and native food on maps. First, I go find it in person, and then I see what it looks like on the map. I’ll mark it, and once I get home, I can scour the map and find every habitat just like that and assume it's the same.
It’s surprising how often those things correlate and how often you can find a certain flora, pin it on the map, and go back in person later to confirm your assumption was correct. We often use this technique with persimmon groves, which works well in the early season all the way up to the rut.
You can do it with certain types of warm-season grass habitats or lowland wetland habitats. You can also correlate pretty accurately how tall these grasses are in the same general area. It can help you know if it is a suitable cover for a whitetail or if it's something that they’re going to want to stay out of during the daylight.
Another tip: I leave my topo lines on almost 100% of the time. It helps me to understand how big or wide a draw is or how many lines it takes to visually hide a deer from cars on the road or other human activity. You might also quickly figure out how steep that next hill is (which should give you an idea of how many guys are going to want to walk up it).
More commonly, topo lines help you infer ways that deer might travel around the easiest topography, so I always keep them on. It helps me a ton, whether I'm in the field or just on the maps at home. There are a million different reasons to have topo lines on while perusing the map.
Lastly, you have to spend as much time on the maps as possible if you want to get better at scouting and better at hunting. It's just like anything: if you want to get better at it, do it as often and as much as you can. If you want to get better at shooting your bow, you go out in the yard and shoot all summer. If you want to be a better football player in high school, you go out and practice all the time. Map scouting is no different. The more you do it, the better you’ll begin to understand correlations between the outside world and what’s displayed on the map, and the more success you’ll have this fall.
For the other two tips, watch the video below and then go have a blast finding deer!
October 1 is right around the corner, but if you’re itching to get back in the saddle (or stand), a few states offer the chance to target a velvet buck almost two months early. Sure, early archery openers have anything but typical whitetail conditions. But they do offer opportunities on deer that haven’t been pressured all season.
You’ll have to wade through the creepy crawly critters and brutal temps, but that’s a tradeoff for the lack of competition. Velvet seasons have grown in popularity, but they’re nothing like the crowds of November. If you can grind out the mosquitos and sweat fests, you have a legitimate shot at arrowing a fuzzy antlered buck.
Not every state has an early archery season. Some, like my home state of Mississippi, only offer brief (two- to three-day) seasons and limit tags to residents only on private land. Depending on their draw application dates, some of these destinations might be off your list this year. However, a few states offer OTC or quota tags, so make sure you do your homework before considering these five states for killing a velvet buck.
KentuckyThe Bluegrass state offers one of the earliest archery openers with affordable license and tag fees for non-resident hunters. For $335 ($150 license and $185 deer permit), you can harvest one buck and, depending on your zone, multiple does.
This year, the season kicks off September 7, 2024. Some bucks might have shed their velvet by this point, but you should still have a solid chance to kill a whitetail buck on opening day if you put in the work. The western part of the state probably gives you the best chance, given the numbers and habitat conditions, but make sure you prep for 90+ degree temps.
MontanaIf you’ve got your sights set west, Montana’s archery season opens the same day as Kentucky’s. Non-residents will have to submit for the lottery draw before April 1. If you are drawn, be prepared to spend $709 for your general deer hunting license and permit. That’s a steep price for a whitetail tag, but with most folks chasing bugles this time of year, you could find yourself hunting relatively unpressured whitetails in Big Sky country.
WyomingWyoming is known for its muleys, but it’s kind of a sleeper state for whitetail junkies. Unlike the Midwest or East, whitetails aren’t exactly at the top of the totem pole in Wyoming or most western states, for that matter. For this reason, access to public and even private hunting opportunities abound.
You’ll have to draw Wyoming, and their application deadline closes May 31. However, if you are successful, their archery season opens on September 1, which leaves you plenty of time to try and bag a western velvet buck. At around $400 for licenses and fees, the cost shouldn’t put too big of a dent in your hunting budget.
North DakotaIt’s no secret that North Dakota is an early-season destination for whitetail hunters. With almost four million acres of public lands and limited tags, there’s plenty of elbow room. While it’s a lottery draw for non-residents, the state allows hunters to purchase any remaining tags on a first-come-first-serve basis. This year, the season opens on August 30, and with license and permit fees, you can book yourself an out-of-state hunt for around $300.
South CarolinaThe Iodine State might not seem like a whitetail destination, but with a booming herd and unique lowland hunting opportunities, non-residents can hunt as early as Aug 15. However, these dates only apply to Zone 4 and on private land, so while the acreage might be limited, the deer numbers aren’t. South Carolina offers a variety of tag and license options that are all fairly affordable, and non-residents can even purchase up to four buck tags.
NebraskaNebraska is another state known for its early (September 1) archery season. The state offers OTC tags at a reasonable $335, and you’ll need to purchase the $25 habitat stamp as well. It doesn’t boast the public acreage of other states, but it does offer plenty of walk-in opportunities on private lands.
You’ll need to do your homework and e-scout ahead of time to have multiple options when you inevitably run into other hunters. As is the case with most western or prairie destinations, you’ll benefit from one of the best spotting scopes to cover all that open country.
The DrawSummer-like temps might not draw you to the deer stand like cool mornings in October. Then again, most folks would rather stay at home than sweat it out. And some early-season clothes, like FirstLite’s Yuma or Trace gear, can help you stay hidden and cool while you’re chasing velvet bucks.
For more information on targeting velvet bucks, check out these articles: The Best Setups for Killing a Velvet Buck, How to Care for Vension in Hot Weather, and How to Kill a Whitetail Buck on Opening Day.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
To pattern deer is to create a world for them in which human intrusion is minimal and leaves them largely unbothered. Or, you can play the scarcity game while running a stealth scouting pattern. The former option is available to anyone who controls a decent chunk of land and can grow deer.
The latter is the option for the rest of the whitetail crowd.
Deer are most vulnerable when it comes to limited resources. This might be a lack of quality bedding cover, water, or as is often the case throughout the late summer—some type of highly desirable food source.
Understanding Scarcity in Groceries When I first set up out on a western river bottom years ago to glass whitetails, I could see a private alfalfa field and several hundred acres of public land. The amount of deer that exited the minimal riverside cover to walk straight toward that lush field was unreal. I’d never seen anything like it. The following morning, I watched the whole thing play out in reverse as bucks left the buffet to head back to the sage flats and patches of willows to bed.
It was a lesson in limited resources. Sure, the bucks would browse along their routes, but the movement was highly predictable. That behavior, when combined with an early September opener, created the most predictable hunting I’d ever seen. The pattern was obvious, and it held up due mostly to a lack of other options.
This has been my experience with hunting the big woods, as well, except for the obvious part. Where deer aren’t easy to see, they aren’t easy to pattern even if you run dozens of cameras. One single hayfield, or truly fresh clear-cut, can change that though. It just requires plenty of scouting.
In areas with plenty of ag and likely mast options, patterning a bachelor group is a different story. It might seem like identifying a scarce but highly desirable resource is a lost cause, but it’s not. You just have to think things through.
Where Are They, and Why? One of the farms I hunt on features a 100-acre field. It’s bordered on two sides by roads. One is a lightly used gravel road. The other is a well-traveled county road. While the whole field could be a deer draw, and probably is at night, during the daylight hours, it’s a different story. The biggest bucks almost always hang out near a waterway lined with cottonwoods. It’s also just a bit lower and more tucked away than much of the rest of the field.
While the food might not be scarce there, the places bucks can feed while not being visible are very limited. You might identify a loose pattern from some light scouting, but dialing an exact ambush spot takes some effort. You want to find the precise locations that are most appealing to deer and understand why that is (and what could put them off of their pattern).
Maybe the whole beanfield on your lease is secluded, and so there is no reason for bucks to concentrate in any one area to avoid being watched. What else might be in high demand? Shade, water, a low spot with green beans while the rest of the field yellows up?
One of the best spots I’ve ever found for patterning bucks was a private piece I had permission on for a few years in north-central Minnesota. It was a 40-acre parcel with a big cattail slough in the middle. On the north and south borders were hayfields. They would probably have had equal drawing power over the local bucks, but the southern field also featured a small pond 50 yards off the edge.
The bucks bedded all over that slough and fed all over that field, but they would almost always hit that pond first. In the morning, they’d hit it last. In this case, they had two limited food options, but only one of them had a small pond right next to it.
The beauty of a setup like that is that while the field might become less desirable if it gets cut or there’s just a bit too much hunting pressure around it, the pond is always going to be highly desirable.
When you’re trying to keep tabs on bucks this summer in the hopes of turning that pattern into a filled tag opening weekend, ask yourself what it would take to put those deer off. Ask yourself if there is something else, a fence crossing, a section of field edge with white oaks along the edge, some water source, that would keep them consistent even if destination food source changed. Those details, the extra spot-on-spot thinking, is what kills good bucks.
Somewhat Consistent Is Good EnoughAs someone who has more shoulder mounts on his walls from September than November, it has become clear to me over the years that it is very rare to get on a perfect big buck pattern. Even those western riverbottom deer will travel slightly differently given the conditions, and whatever influence from predators they encounter.
In this case, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough. If you have a few target bucks hitting the corner of the field three nights a week, you’re onto something. If your trail cameras show some good deer traveling a ridge toward a fresh clear-cut every few days, you’re onto something.
The biggest mistake a lot of folks make when trying to pattern summer bucks and kill those deer early is not hunting because their intel shows inconsistent movement. Deer travel is an inexact science. If you put in the requisite work to tease out a pattern built around some type of scarcity, get ready to hunt even if you believe it’s a coin flip on whether he’ll show. Those odds are a hell of a lot better than you’re going to get at almost any other part of the season.
Plus, when you figure out how to hunt something rare that the deer really want, your target buck might not show–but his big brother might.
For more information on summer scouting, check out these articles: 5 Summer Lies Deer Hunters Tell Themselves, 3 Locations You Need To Put Trail Cameras This Summer, and 5 Ways To Prep For Deer Season This Summer.
Humans, and by default, hunters, are walking contradictions. If you ask the average hunter if he supports anti-hunting groups lobbying to remove opportunities from any subset of hunters, you’ll hear all about how horrible they are. Ask that same hunter if he supports removing opportunities for nonresidents in his own state, and you’ll likely see a change in tone happen real quickly.
Similarly, if you ask most hunters how they feel about technology taking over, a lot of them will say it will be the death of hunting. Yet, the lines we draw in the sand are our own and subject to change real fast. Back in the 1960s, when Holless Allen spent his time tinkering with a traditional bow to make it more efficient, he probably didn’t realize that he was about to divide the small bowhunting community into two factions.
His Allen Compound Bow, a revolutionary weapon built with a crude system of cams and pulleys, hit the market in 1967. When it did, the backlash was swift and predictable. Today, if you took one of his bows to the field, your hunting partners would have you involuntarily committed to a State Hospital, and not the kind that stitches up wounds and sets broken bones, either.
Advancing technology is just a materialistic evolution, and it won’t stop. This is most evident in today’s trail cameras, which, in a couple of decades, have undergone massive changes. While this is probably hard for young hunters to imagine, the first trail cameras had actual disposable film cameras inside of them. You had to take the film out, run it to someplace that could develop the roll, and then look through the pictures to see if you had anything good. You usually didn’t.
Now, trail cameras are something else entirely, and if you’ve made the leap to cell cameras, you’ve embraced the latest technology. The next step is to learn how to really use it to your advantage.
New Features & Modes It’s standard for cell cameras to offer the usual array of customizable settings. Trigger sensitivity, burst mode, trigger delay, multiple resolution options for videos and images, and a whole bunch of standard stuff. Learning what is best for your setup and then catering your camera to that situation only makes sense.
For example, if you want to catch some rut action, having your camera set to take just one picture and then wait two minutes before it’ll take another is not a great idea. You want to get an image of the doe and the buck that’s chasing her. Multi-shot mode with a short turnaround between triggering events is the ticket here. Or, you can opt for a minute-long video clip to make sure you don’t miss anything.
Today’s cameras go much further than that, however. I recently took a couple of Moultrie cell cameras out into the woods in northern Wisconsin to gather some intel. I set up one of their EDGE 2 PRO cameras on the edge of a swamp where two trails intersect. I honestly don’t know how this camera does it, but I set it up to capture deer only. The raccoons are thick in that spot, and when the turkeys move through, they tend to stick around. Neither of those critters interest me in the summer or early fall, so I cut down on the white noise by using the Smart Capture feature in their Moultrie Mobile app to set the camera to feed me only deer pics.
Because the spot where I hung that camera is on a hillside, it’s ripe for deer coming in on one of the higher trails. When they do, they’ll trip the camera the instant they walk into the frame. That is a common occurrence with all cameras, in my experience, but the EDGE 2 PRO offers the Smart Zone feature. This allows you to look at their app and see a gridded-out image of what the camera sees. Simply tap each spot on the grid that you want to make off-limits for a critter (or anything) to be able to trigger the camera.
On my setup, every grid on the far left side of the camera is selected because that’s where deer would be closest to my camera and are most likely to trigger a premature image. Now, they need to walk farther into the frame before the camera does its thing.
Tweak, Learn & Keep Trying Today’s cameras offer up a world of technology that would make Fred Bear roll in his grave, but the real secret is how your smartphone is now a part of the camera ecosystem. The apps these companies develop to support their offerings allow for a wide variance of features, and that’s part of the fun.
Some offer weather forecasts or will chart the activity from your various cameras to tell you when you should probably call in sick to work to get into a tree. Some offer the ability to share images with your hunting partners, which may or may not be appealing depending on how secretive you are about your hitlisters.
All of this is to say that if you’re going to use cell cameras, you might as well try to learn to use them as effectively as possible. The latest offerings are packed full of features that might help you kill a big deer this fall, or they might not help you at all. It’s up to you to mess around and figure that out if that’s at all appealing.
It might not be. The latest technology isn’t for everyone, but if history is any indicator, it probably will be in a few years. Then, something new and game-changing will make our current gadgets seem like relics from the past.
For more information on summertime scouting, check out these articles: 5 Summer Lies Deer Hunters Tell Themselves, The Basics Of Summer Scouting, and How To Summer Scout For Public Land Whitetails.
The cold, hard truth is that Boone & Crockett deer aren’t around every corner. Unless your hunting property butts up against a large wildlife preserve, or an outdoor TV property, the odds of you wrapping your tag around a 160-inch whitetail aren’t very good.
Every year, unrealistic expectations are the cause of empty freezers. Sure, there are hunters out there who put in countless hours to locate and kill the biggest whitetail in the country. To do this repeatedly, this can only be done by scouting, scouting, and more scouting.
If you’re not in a position to do that and simply want to take a good whitetail buck every season, the secret lies in learning to pinpoint ultra-productive spots within a given property. If you learn to locate these killer spots, mature deer will be using that area year after year. If you’ve found a spot like this, you know when you know. If you haven’t found a spot with this kind of repeatable productivity, here’s what to look for.
Relatively Low Hunting PressureMany articles have been written about the importance of low hunting pressure. You might have the best-looking spot in the whitetail world, but it doesn’t do you much good if the spot gets boogered up by other hunters day in and day out. An educated whitetail is going to quickly learn to avoid that area.
It’s also important to distinguish that hunting pressure is completely relative. Finding a low-pressure hunting spot doesn’t have to mean that no hunter will set foot in that spot all year. It also doesn’t mean that you need to hike to the furthest point away from the public parking lot as possible. Newsflash, that spot three miles back can also be a magnet to other hunters.
Practically speaking, for a whitetail buck to reach maturity, he needs to evade hunters season after season. If he lives in an area frequented by hunters, one day, he’ll run out of luck. Deer that reach maturity on public lands learn places where they can live relatively undisturbed. He may get bumped by hunters every once in a while, but human intrusion is somewhat of an irregularity.
Sometimes, that means living in a thick patch of timber, tucked far from roads and trails. Other times, that can mean living on a hill, perched directly above the trailhead, where he watches all hunters begin their pursuit.
Discrete AccessMaybe you’ve found the single best spot on a given property. Heck, maybe you even have exclusive hunting permission. Even in that situation, if you spook deer on every trip into the treestand, you’re stacking the deck against you.
If you’re educating the local deer herd, you now have a hunt or two before the herd adapts their behavior to avoid you. Find ways to access your stand with the least likely chance of being seen or smelled, even if that means taking the long way.
Wind That Favors the DeerA public land buck isn’t going to live very long if he’s constantly traveling with the wind at his back. With that in mind, scouting new whitetail spots should be synonymous with studying the wind. Study the effect of differing wind directions as they blow across terrain features.
You might find that there’s a particular wind direction and speed that makes your tree and entry route bulletproof. For example, you might find that when a southwest wind comes into contact with a north-south oriented ravine, the wind swirls and does a consistent 180. You can use that anomaly to your advantage, like a chink in the armor of a deer’s defense system.
Wind That Favors the HunterOne of the hardest things to do as a whitetail bowhunter is staying out of an area that can’t be hunted without educating deer, like a drainage littered with deer sign where the winds continually swirl. Call it redneck intuition, but learning to judge a spot’s productivity while scouting is an invaluable skill set. After all, you only get so much time to spend afield each fall and only so many peak-rut opportunities. Don’t waste them sitting in an unproductive tree. Sitting in a tree with an inconsistent wind is just that.
If your scent is blowing up and down the draw, even if momentarily, it’s only a matter of time before you get busted. And it always seems to be the shooter buck that busts you. No matter how good that area is, you need to back out. You may not need to abandon the area entirely, but circle the perimeter of the spot with a wind checker in hand until you find a place where the wind stays consistent. By keeping the pressure low, expressly free of human scent, you can now hunt that spot over and over again without diminishing returns.
If you’ve dialed it in and found the spot on the spot, it’s only a matter of time before a mature buck finds his way into your shooting lane. Learning to identify these primo stand locations takes a lot of legwork and plenty of trial and error, but once you’ve found it, you can usually take a mature deer from that spot season after season.
There are plenty of great hunters who have made a name for themselves by targeting buck beds. They’ve proven this deadly tactic can help you sneak tight to a buck’s bedroom and ambush him as he’s coming or going. But why doesn’t everyone just use this buck bed strategy? Like any tactic or hunting style, it’s situational. Just because you find a buck bed while scouting doesn’t mean you’ll have a hefty taxidermy bill this fall. In reality, you’ve likely found one of his beds, not the bed.
But don’t just take it from me. A study conducted by Mississippi State University revealed a sobering reality that should change the way we think about buck bedding. To find out more about this study, I spoke with Dr. Bronson Strickland of the MSU Deer Lab and what their team learned from the data.
The CaveatBefore rocks are thrown or insults hurled in the comments section, I have to point out that this study was conducted on private land in Mississippi with relatively flat topography. This fact plays a role in the outcomes and is not lost on me. There’s no shortage of bedding in the deep South. Unlike parts of the Midwest, where cover might represent a limited resource, the South might best be generalized as one big bedding area.
From a landscape perspective, these two locales are antithetical. But, these findings can still apply to other areas of the country where cover abounds. I realize this doesn’t necessarily translate to every habitat and hunting pressure scenario. Hunters in the South will probably benefit from this more than anyone, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t reveal something valuable about buck movement and bedding.
Bedding Areas vs. Bedding SitesBefore diving into our conversation, Dr. Strickland made a point to differentiate between bedding areas and bedding sites. Essentially, bedding areas are general. Bedding sites are specific.
Bedding sites are typically what hunters refer to when they mention finding a specific buck bed. For instance, one ridge might represent a bedding area, but a blowdown at the end of that ridge where the buck actually beds would be the bedding site.
Dr. Strickland noted that this distinction is important because “certain bucks demonstrated more fidelity to general bedding areas,” even if they didn’t return to the same bedding site during the study. So, while a buck might not revisit the exact bedding site, he might still prefer that general bedding area.
Bedding DataAs far as numbers go, Dr. Strickland observed that more than 50% of bucks in the study used a specific bedding site only once.
“There’s a lot of hunters who think there’s maybe three or four specific beds that a buck will use,” he said, “but that’s counter to what our research shows. We found that during a two-week time period, bucks used about 46-47 specific bedding sites, with one using as many as 56. For bedding areas, that number was between 14 and 17.”
While there were some bedding sites that a buck would revisit, that number was a slim 1% of bucks in the study. Again, it’s important to note that just because a buck didn’t revisit a specific bedding site doesn’t mean he wasn’t in the same bedding area. Depending on the size of the bedding area, the buck could have been relatively close or distant to a specific bedding site.
For hunters, that’s both good and bad news. Just because a big buck isn’t using the same bedding site doesn’t mean he won’t use the same trail where you expect to shoot him. Of course, depending on the size of the bedding area, he could still be in the same general location, but you just never see him.
What It Means for HuntersAll this information is great, but what do we do with it? Like any tactic or approach, hunters should consider this information relative to where they hunt. Targeting buck beds might be an excellent tactic if you hunt areas where cover is limited, but areas like the deep South, according to the research, aren’t conducive to this approach. For hunters in cover-rich locations, Dr. Strickland advises looking for optimal bedding, not just any cover.
He emphasized that the common factor these optimal bedding areas and sites shared was screening cover like “tree stems, grass, blackberries, palmetto, etc.” regardless of plant species. Rather than looking for hard edges or transitions, try concentrating on soft edges near bedding where bucks will feel comfortable traveling. Most of these transitions will likely hold natural browse as well. To find these transitions that don’t necessarily jump off the map, you’ll need to scout these areas next to cover.
“Think about where you envision the best of the best cover,” he said. “Look for trails and set up trail cameras on the periphery of those areas and consider how you can hunt those trails in terms of wind.”
You might not find a buck’s specific bed in these locations, but you can definitely find the areas where he’s likely to move.
Bump and Dump?When hunting areas with ample bedding, you’re going to bump deer. The bump-and-dump technique might seem like a great idea, but what if a deer doesn’t need to come back to that specific spot?
Again, in areas where good cover is sparse, this can be a great tactic, but in locations where there’s great cover everywhere, you’re probably spinning your wheels. I’m not saying this would never work, but if a buck can run a few hundred yards and find optimal cover (and food), he doesn’t need to circle back to the spot where he just encountered a threat—not right away, at least.
The TakeawayAt first glance, these results might seem a little discouraging. After all, if you can’t predict where a buck will bed, it kind of seems like a roll of the dice. But, if that’s your takeaway, you’re missing the important data here, which suggests that bucks are comfortable in a variety of bedding situations, and they move a lot more than we think. Keep reading the sign and focus on the areas where bucks will feel comfortable traveling during shooting hours.
Scroll through Instagram or head on over to YouTube, and you won’t have to try too hard to find a video of an arrow arcing through the air for ¾ of a second before it enters an elk, whitetail, or hell, even a spring turkey. It would be hard to back up the claim that long-range archery shots are more common now than back in the Fred Bear days, but they certainly are more visible.
This is both a blessing and a curse.
The ability to hit a small target with an arrow from a football field away is evidence of good form, plenty of practice, and a flawless bow setup. All of those things should be aspirational goals for all archery hunters. Yet, the skill and gear needed to make that shot after several rounds of practice and during ideal conditions is one thing. Making it on something with a heartbeat out there in Mother Nature’s realm is a different story.
All of those videos you can go find on social platforms don’t exactly demonstrate this because you’ve been hand-fed the highlight reels. No one is going to post a video of themselves taking a 90-yard shot and then burying an arrow into a deer’s guts or an elk’s shoulder. Keep in mind that no one is going to post a video of themselves missing by three feet on a shot like that, either.
Just Because You Can…We all know the benefits of target practice at longer ranges, which for most bowhunters probably means shooting beyond 40 or 50 yards. If you can keep it together on those shots, the closer shots you’re likely to encounter in the woods should be a breeze. You’re also going to get a crash course on your shooting form and shot execution with those longer pokes. Lastly, any flaws in your setup will only be illuminated by trying to make more difficult shots while watching your arrow travel greater distances through the air.
The downside comes from the false confidence of being a decently competent long-range foam shooter. Hitting a 3D target in the vitals at 70 yards in the middle of a practice session is one thing. It’s another to do it on a real deer while wearing your hunting clothing, and after sitting in the elements for hours. Factor in the inevitable adrenalin, the cold muscles, and the randomness of another animal’s movements, and the whole thing is ripe for failure.
Somewhere in this is a compromise, it’s just hard to hold ourselves to it.
Know Your Actual LimitsI used to practice a lot and at a lot of long ranges. I was good, too. I took that confidence out west with me and even proved my abilities on a few antelope and mule deer. I got downright cocky. This bit me right in the ass eventually because it’s hard to pass up an opportunity on a game animal that you’re fully capable of killing.
It took me a couple of extremely frustrating and fruitless bloodtrails to face the reality that I’d talked myself into believing I was an exceptional shot. I wasn’t. I was good enough to hit targets that were far by archery standards, but that didn’t transcend into the woods on actual critters with enough consistency to make me feel ethical. I pushed a few shots I shouldn’t have because I thought I could make them. I could have made them, too, but I didn’t. And that was irresponsible.
This is a tale that not only highlights how much of a dumbass I can be but is something cautionary for anyone else who is enamored with long-range practice sessions. You absolutely should shoot distances at the range that are farther than you would shoot at real animals in the field. You’ll be a better shot for it, and you’ll have more fun in the off-season when you’re prepping for the fall.
But, it’s also possible you’ll convince yourself that what you can do while standing flat-footed in ideal summer conditions is what you can do in the November woods when you haven’t practiced in a week. That’s danger zone territory. While it might break your way to reach out and try to touch a buck on the other end of the field, it’s pretty likely it won’t.
In an ideal world, we’d all be able to practice long range shots all summer long, but not even be tempted to take those shots in the field. We don’t live in an ideal world. We live in a world where we have to condition ourselves to shoot for the most favorable outcome.
For most of us, that probably means having fun on the range while telling ourselves that it’s going to be 40 yards and in all season long. While you might miss out on a few shot opportunities this way, you’re far more likely to regret the questionable shots you take versus the ones you pass on.
For more summertime shooting info, check out these articles: To Fill More Tags, Keep Your Whitetail Bow As Simple As Possible, Archery Tuning Basics Every Bowhunter Should Know, and How Target Practice Can Make You A Bad Shot.
In his memoir, A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway discusses his writing process and experience as an American expat in Paris, France. While writing and dining in Parisian cafes, Hemingway would step away from his work and stroll through Champs-Elysees or by the banks of the Seine to take a break from writing. During these strolls, he made it a point not to think about his work. Hemingway believed his subconscious continued working during these mental breaks even if he wasn’t actively thinking about his work. He found that his time and thoughts away from writing actually helped when he returned to the pen and paper, and he felt refreshed and full of new ideas. Deer hunters, take note.
Hunting might not carry the weight of writing the great American novel, but is no less mentally and physically demanding. Scouting, habitat work, early alarms, and cold treks in the dark can make you long for the last day of deer season like an old friend. Make no mistake: the highest forms of success, whether you’re writing, throwing a football, or chasing a giant buck, require laser focus and dedication. This is something only the best hunters maintain.
For the rest of us, physical and mental breaks away from hunting will do us more good than harm. In fact, they’ll probably make you a better hunter (and person) in the long run. Still, that doesn’t mean current hunting literature and social media won’t make you feel like you’re behind the 8-ball if everything you do doesn’t revolve around hunting. Unless your livelihood depends on the hunting industry, it’s okay to take a break, see something new, and return refreshed.
Other Interests Can Improve Your HuntingJust because you aren’t working on deer-specific tasks, doesn’t mean you’re not getting better at hunting. For instance, focusing on your fitness and overall health can have a direct impact on your hunting, yet it requires zero time in the woods or on stand.
If you nearly had a heart attack dragging out your kill last season, you might want to think about incorporating some cardio or weight training into your daily routine. Even if hunting is the only reason you decide to start running or training, it’s still a great way to think about deer hunting without thinking about deer hunting. If you can push your physical and mental capabilities during a workout, you’ll do the same during the dog days of deer season.
Working out isn’t the only way to indirectly improve your deer hunting though. If you’re dedicated enough to pick up your bow and establish a shooting routine right after the season, consider trading your stick and string for a fly rod (at least briefly). Bowhunting whitetails requires patience, accuracy, and dedication. So does fly fishing.
Whether you’re wading a trout stream or poling through a salt marsh, you’ll need precise, well-timed casts to be successful and not spook fish. That type of patience and finesse can translate to bowhunting. Swap a few weekends on the water for your range sessions. Who knows, you might even have fun. But even if you aren’t interested in fly fishing, there are plenty of other ways you can challenge yourself outside of hunting.
Avoid BurnoutBurnout isn’t just for overworked employees or the drag strip. Hunters experience it, too, whether it’s in season or out. I’m not saying you should go months without working on your deer hunting goals, but intentional time off can give you a fresh perspective and new motivation. It’s sort of like rest days for working out. They’re necessary even if they feel unproductive. Instead of grinding your body to a pulp or risking injury, you’re giving it time to recover and, ultimately, become stronger. Sure, there’s a time for digging your heels in and pushing through, but strategic rest days are pivotal.
Similarly, time away from deer scouting and work allows us to take a step back, evaluate the previous season’s mistakes, approach the new season with a fresh set of eyes, and make deer hunting fun again. Summer is a great time to do this. With temps flirting near triple digits and the parade of creepy crawlers in the woods, you’re better off learning a new sport or target practicing. A one to two-week break from your deer dreams won’t kill them.
Pace YourselfIf you take deer hunting seriously, then you know there isn’t really an off-season when you think about the prep, hunting, running trail cameras, and post-season work. Throw in a string of bad seasons or mishaps, and other hobbies will start to look a lot more appealing. That’s why it’s important to take intentional breaks away from working or thinking about deer hunting, even if just briefly.
A few years ago, I found myself saddled up over an interesting deer spot in southwestern Wisconsin. Twenty yards below and to the left of my setup was a well-used trail. It was pockmarked not only with plenty of deer tracks, but also several fresh scrapes. If a buck wanted to go from one side of the steep valley to the other, he either needed to drop down into it or skirt the top.
I was banking on them skirting the top. What I didn’t expect was for a solid eight-pointer to cruise in from above me and then bust his way through the brush to my right. If you’ve never taken an off-side shot from a tree saddle, this might be hard to grasp. Trust me on this, it’s awkward. It’s also nerve-wracking when you have to make it happen in a matter of a few seconds.
The blood trail wasn’t as short as I hoped, but I did manage to kill that deer. I also realized something that made me ashamed, which was that was the first time I had ever taken that type of shot from my saddle. I hadn’t practiced it a single time, which was a mistake I vowed not to make again. It was stupid, but we often do a lot of stupid things when it comes to archery practice.
A more recent example to further drive this point home occurred last fall while I was hunting public land whitetails with Steve Rinella. It was Steve’s first whitetail bow hunt from a treestand in a long time, and when a good Sooner State buck wandered in to scrounge around for acorns and persimmons, he set his 20-yard pin just above the buck’s heart and made the shot.
When we replayed the footage, we all declared that the buck would be dead within 100 yards or so. It felt like celebration time, until we made it 100 yards down the blood trail. Then 200, and then 500. When the blood went from spilled paint to pin pricks, our little crew got real quiet and hyper-focused. It was a couple hours later when we found the buck still alive but struggling. He had covered over 1,000 yards.
Steve’s shot placement would have been ideal from the ground. From 20 feet up in a tree, it was way too low. This is a common mistake bowhunters make, mostly because they never practice for it. Yet, we almost all know we will take elevated shots all season long.
Make Realistic Practice Easy Most people will never target practice with their hunting duds on, especially in the summer. Just as most people will never set up a treestand to practice so they can practice from an elevated position. The truth about practicing like a hunter is that you have to make it easy on yourself.
One of the things I’ve started doing is saddling up about two feet off the ground. With a few targets spread around, this is an easy way to practice from the actual setup I’ll be hunting from this fall (even if I’m still basically at ground level). Add in a bino harness, and you have the makings for at least a partially realistic practice session. This has been huge for developing confidence while shooting from a saddle, but also understanding how to maneuver into shot position. Plus, it takes very little extra effort.
If you can set up a stand or at least throw on an early-season jacket with your bino harness, you’re ahead of most hunters. Figure out a way to make practicing for real-world shots as easy as possible.
Maybe you can practice elevated shots from your deck or a friend’s deck? Maybe you have a spot where you can safely shoot uphill or downhill? The goal doesn’t have to be to exactly mimic your hunting setups in a practice setting, but instead to mix up your target shooting to involve elements of hunting type shots.
Mix It Up More Everyone’s situation is different, but there are little things you can do to make your target practice sessions more valuable. Let’s say you only have a 30-yard-and-under spot to practice, and you can’t get fancy with gear or elevation.
Can you break off a limb from the maple tree in your yard and poke it into the ground in front of your target? Now, you have to thread the needle to some extent. I know that sounds dumb but think about your shots on deer. How often do they stand in the wide open and present a full broadside shot to you?
Even when they pose up in a September soybean field, they often don’t do that. When they come browsing through the woods at first light, they rarely do. You almost always have to pick a lane and then factor in some element of nature to shoot around or through. You can practice this at home, and you should. This teaches you how to think past the obstruction to execute a good shot. If you think that’s not valuable, keep hunting. Eventually, you’ll talk yourself into a thread-the-needle shot on a live deer.
Of course, you can also sit, kneel, shoot from a blind chair, or wait until it’s windy, rainy, or about to be dark. The thing to think about here is that it’s great to get really proficient at shooting tight groups in ideal conditions, but that’s just the start.
You should also try to shoot those tight groups when you mix up the program and add in variables that are going to be a part of your hunts this season. Not only does this make target practice sessions more fun, but it also prepares you for real-world shots in a way that is undeniably valuable.
For more summer shooting info, check out these articles: Develop A Shooter’s Foundation Before Leveling Up Your Archery Practice, To Fill More Deer Tags, Keep Your Whitetail Bow As Simple As Possible, and How Self-Awareness Can Make You A Better Bow Shot On Whitetails.
I have a long history of not being into crossbows. They don’t appeal to me in the least. Sure, if I suffered a random tiger attack or some other injury that kept me from drawing a vertical bow, I’d hunt with one. Otherwise, they aren’t my style.
I do own two, however, which isn’t much of a coincidence since I also have two 12-year-old daughters. While my girls just can’t quite draw the minimum poundage to hunt whitetails yet, they’ve been able to crossbow hunt for a few seasons already, and it’s been so much fun.
It has also been a learning experience. While crossbows can be a great weapon choice for youth hunters, they also come with a learning curve that begins with the initial purchase.
Fit Matters, A Lot If you’re like me, and you’re used to handling either normal firearms or vertical bows, you’ll feel like a crossbow is a poorly evolved version of both. A weaponry mutt, if you will. They’re heavy up front, with the tendency to list port or starboard without much warning. They are weirdly loud as well.
Just like any product category, they are also offered in a wide range of styles and sizes. My first purchase, since I didn’t know if my daughters would stick with it, was a cheap women’s/youth crossbow. The girls killed several deer with it, and while it proved to be the right size for them at the time, it was also not a shining example of quality.
With hunting gear, you really do get what you pay for. When I upgraded their crossbow this year, I went for an option that retails for about twice what I paid for their original crossbow. That was still well below the sticker price on the top-end models in the market.
Their new crossbow is lightweight, which is huge. It’s fast enough to zip a bolt through a bull moose, and it’s easy to de-cock. It pretty much does what we need it to do, but the best part is that it’s somewhat customizable when it comes to fit. This is important because proper fit allows for repeatable form and comfort in handling. It also allows both of my girls to hunt with it, which is a huge bonus.
Fit is a start, but it’s not the only consideration you need to make if you plan to take your kids out this fall for whitetails.
Blinds VS Stands This fall will mark the first season that my daughters will hunt deer from treestands. Not great big, elevated box blinds, but actual stands. Hang-ons and ladder stands. Up to this point, it has been a ground-blind game, which is by far the easiest way to take kids hunting, keep them happy, and provide an opportunity for a high-odds shot.
Ground blinds are a game changer, especially if you pair them with a tripod that allows you to lock the crossbow in place. Not only does this provide some insurance safety-wise, but it also allows for ease in aiming.
It’s also not much of an option in a treestand. For aerial hunting, you need the proper safety gear for kids, as well as some style of rest. If it’s a ladder stand with a built-in rest, so be it. That’s far better than free-handing. I usually try to bungee strap a monopod or a bipod to our ladder stands to give the girls an even better rest.
With hang-ons, it’s often a matter of improvising a rest with a stout bow hanger, nailing a board to the tree if it’s an option, or figuring something out with a store-bought solution. The key point here is that no matter what, if you take a kid to hunt deer with a crossbow, figure out how to get them a proper, solid rest.
Not A Bow, Not A GunFor the uninitiated, like I was a few years ago, it’s easy to assume a crossbow will handle like a gun and perform like a bow. While technically, this is kind of true, they are also a lot faster out of the gate than a vertical bow. If you’re counting on watching the bolt to mark the impact site, you might blink and miss the whole thing if you’re not using lighted nocks.
It’s also almost a given that deer, even relaxed deer, are going to move at the shot. Crossbows have a lot of energy stored in a small package, and when it’s released, it creates noise. Last year, while filming a show for MeatEater, we filmed my daughter shooting a Wisconsin spike buck at 20 yards. That deer dropped about five inches from the moment she tripped the trigger until the bolt hit, which led to a longer blood trail than I expected.
Pushing it out to 30 or 40 yards means deer have a better opportunity to try to get out of the way, which changes things more. Pay attention to the reality that a crossbow is not a gun, but also not like a vertical bow in a few ways. This will help you encourage better decisions out of your young protégé and head off some of the bad stuff that can happen when things veer just slightly from the plan.
For more information on taking kids hunting, check out these articles: The 6 Best youth Deer Hunting Rifles, How Not To Introduce Your Kids To Guns, and 3 Ways To Keep Your Kids Happy During Camping Trips.
In a past life, while working as an associate editor for a bowhunting magazine, I had to call up one of our columnists to clear something up. He had written about his preferred sight choice, mentioning that it was a seven-pin model.
When I got him on the phone, he told me that he’d use a 9-pin option if he could find it. I thought, that’s at least six pins more than my brain can handle at the moment of truth. It was a revelation in how different he was as a bowhunter compared to myself.
I need dumbed-down, simple bow setups. I know this because I went through a long phase of buck-fever-induced deer disasters and have proven that I’m not immune to totally flaming out during any given shot. If I don’t have simple, I almost don’t have a chance. That might sound insane to some folks, but I think a lot of whitetail hunters would benefit from dumbing down their setups.
This almost always starts with sight choice.
One, One Little Sight Pin, Ah Ah AhHow many pins do you need on your sight? Does it matter if your pins are vertical or horizontal? My answers to both questions are one or two, and yes. The fewer pins most of us have, the easier it is to get the right pin in the right spot. This is a tricky one though, because we rarely use the wrong pin while practicing–and if we do, it doesn’t cost us a deer.
In the field, people often use the wrong pin. It’s hard to tamp down the brain-melting adrenaline enough to hold your red pin high or your yellow pin low. It’s much easier to put your one green pin where it needs to be and let it rip.
I know a lot of folks think single-pin sights, especially single-pin movers, require just as much thought and, well, more movement. They aren’t wrong, but they aren’t totally right, either. The brain power devoted to dialing in your sight gets used up before you draw. It’s not the same as drawing and then having to count down pins or gap. This is a bigger deal than it might seem.
If that makes you too nervous, dumbing things down sight-wise might just involve going from a five-pin model to a three-pin model. Another option, which I plan to try this year, is a mover with a hybrid, vertical option where the main pin is green, but on the same stem there is a shorter, red pin. This provides a little cushion if you dial into 25 yards and the buck walks by at 32.
In either case, the fewer choices you have to make while you’re drawn, the better. In regard to the vertical versus horizontal pin question, I think almost everyone would benefit from vertical pins. You get more of the sight window to work with, and it changes how you aim (generally for the better).
As with anything, if you really don’t have a problem hitting bucks where you want, then this doesn’t matter. If you struggle to make good shots, you might want to think about how you could help yourself meltdown less.
Rest Easy, Or No? Have you ever drawn your bow only to realize that your arrow isn’t seated in the launcher correctly? When that happens on the range, you either figure out how to get it in place or you let down and start over. No harm, no foul. When it happens on a 140-inch buck on a crisp November morning, all bets are off.
If you’re shooting with a rest that isn’t total containment, you’re likely to run into this problem at the worst of times. While static, whisker-biscuit style rests are a good option for a lot of folks, you do give up a slight something in performance with them. That probably doesn’t matter much for most whitetail setups. I’d rather go with a drop-away myself, but only if I can use one that is going to keep my arrow where it needs to be before I draw.
Here’s the thing about this issue, and any other way you can simplify your rig, you have to pay attention to the little things during practice. It’s like when you’re training a duck dog during the off-season to stay steady. If the dog creeps a little in practice, it’ll full-on break during an actual hunt when the mallards start splashing into the drink.
If you screw up occasionally with the wrong pin or poor gapping during a summertime practice session, you might screw up royally on a deer this fall in the same way. If every few times you go to the range, you get slightly annoyed because you have to let down to fix the orientation of your arrow in your rest, you will do that in a treestand, and it most likely won’t go your way.
Pay attention now to those things and remember that what might seem like barely an issue on the range during August can morph into something much more frustrating in October.
For more off-season whitetail information, check out these articles: How Target Practice Can Make You A Bad Shot, The Archery Routine That Will Help You Kill More Deer, and 3 Locations You Need To Put Trail Cameras This Summer.
Quite a few years ago, I passed on one of my older bows to a friend of mine. He had expressed an interest in bowhunting and had already killed a few deer with a rifle, so it seemed like a good idea.
That feeling faded after about the fifth mystery blood trail.
While he was more than enthusiastic about entering the ranks of archery hunting, he couldn’t keep his act together on a deer. Not only did he shoot poorly, he almost always seemed to hit deer instead of whiffing clean.
After a few seasons of dealing with his post-shot issues, I realized something—he almost always shot too far forward or too far back. Rarely did he shoot high or low. I started thinking that maybe he was trying to peek around his rack of pins to see more of the deer, so I convinced him to switch to a single-pin sight. His results changed almost instantly, and he has never gone back.
Sometimes, a fix for our shooting woes is obvious, sometimes, it’s not.
Painful MemoriesWhile my buddy was a shoulder or gut shooter, my problem for a lot of years was different. I almost always hit too high or missed over the top of deer. This issue plagued me, and it got to the point where I wanted to quit.
While it wasn’t fun to think about, some reflection led me to a likely culprit. My buck fever caused me to punch my trigger the moment I saw enough of the deer in my sight window. In fact, it was during my first few rifle hunts where I shot high that this occurred to me. Just like with my buddy, I dumbed down my sight window to one pin and then forced myself to think through my entire shot process. It took a summer’s worth of shooting, but when it all clicked, the arc of my deer hunting career changed.
This is not that easy to do. We don’t like reality, when the comfort of slight delusion is so warm and fuzzy. If you almost always zip your arrow through the vitals, this might not be for you. Most hunters don’t, though. They need to think about their shots and what is going on.
What happens when you miss or make a poor shot? I mean, besides looking for an excuse like the deer ducked the string or an unseen twig sent your arrow on a less desirable path. Where does the arrow tend to go versus where you want it to go?
Tucked into the embarrassment of flubbing a few shots is usually a pattern. If you can tease it out, you can fix it, but probably not how you expect.
It’s Not The GearI’m a huge advocate for dumbing down the shot process to account for the inevitable adrenalin dump of shooting at an actual deer. In that way, gear matters. Where it doesn’t is when you’re sitting there in the mid-summer, thinking about another practice session while reflecting on your past mistakes.
This is when the ego creeps in and whispers to us that it must be an equipment issue. If you just buy a new bow, or a new limb-driven rest, or heavier arrows, or whatever, your issues will disappear. There’s nothing wrong with a summertime upgrade, but it won’t fix what is between your ears.
The easiest way to understand this is to think of how many times you could shoot at a relatively close 3D deer target in a row before you’d miss completely. At 20 yards, might be able to shoot 1000 arrows, or more, before you make a really bad shot.
How many live deer would it take for you to make a mistake at 20 yards? Probably not nearly as many. The gear performs just fine on the range; why not in the treestand at last light? Because there’s something going on in your head that is causing panic.
The simplest way to beat this is to shoot in a way that helps you build trust with yourself. Second-guessing your abilities is a big problem, and it’s most prevalent when a 135-incher is on his way down the trail. During practice sessions, the goal should be to believe that once you put the pin where it needs to be and execute the release, the results are predictable.
You have to practice with the intention to become not only more physically efficient but also more mentally competent and confident. Reflect on your past mistakes and then shoot to give yourself the earned confidence of someone who can reliably do this. The more you convince yourself that you’re capable on the range, the more that will translate to the field.
That’s an easy answer. Often, it’s not enough, but it is a start. The more you shoot in August in a meaningful way to truly increase your confidence, the better you’ll be in the stand this fall when the crux of your entire season trots in and poses up at 27 yards.
For off-season deer hunting information, check out these articles: 3 Locations You Need To Put Trail Cameras This Summer, 5 Ways To Prep For Deer Season This Summer, and 3 Off-Season Chores Every Deer Hunter Should Do.
Deer camps embody some of the best things about hunting, especially community. Some of my favorite hunting memories include my grandfather’s hunting camp, where I rabbit hunted, learned how to deer hunt, and heard my first turkey gobble. Aside from hunting and work days, members of the camp often gathered for fish fries, cookouts, and community events. Hunters killed big bucks every year, and every now and then, someone would kill a really big deer.
While no deer camp is perfect, the folks in this one unselfishly made it an enjoyable experience, and everyone benefitted. Unfortunately, some deer camps, clubs, leases, (or whatever you prefer) don’t understand this. Luckily, these camps typically have practices that should deter you from joining their ranks, if you know what to look for.
If you’ve never been a club member, these warning signs might not seem so apparent. Since you’ll be spending a significant amount on yearly dues, it’s important to understand what you’re signing up for. Whether you’re shopping around for your first club or someone has invited you to a deer lease, here are a few red flags that should inform your decision.
Quick TurnoverInvitations aren’t always a bad thing. If someone asks you to join their camp or lease, it’s probably an indication that your friend, coworker, in-law, etc., thinks you’re a good fit and hunter for their camp. Kudos to you. However, some invitations come from desperation. For example, the camp or lease is like a revolving door, and no one stays for more than a year. Sure, private hunting land isn’t cheap, and it isn’t getting any cheaper. But good hunting camps—regardless of price—don’t have issues finding members. If there’s good hunting, someone will pay.
The turnover in a hunting camp isn’t necessarily an indictment of the members, either. It could be the lease situation and location. If the camp borders other camps or hunting ground, there’s probably a ton of pressure. Also, most leased camps are owned by timber companies whose main interest is growing and selling timber—not hunting. While these timber practices can benefit the deer or turkey populations, they certainly aren’t motivated by habitat management. Some companies are more strict than others on what they allow too. For instance, some leases allow you to make some habitat alterations and plant food plots. Others do not.
No DoesThis practice is probably a vestigial fear from the days of low deer numbers, but it’s still something I see from time to time. The misconception that more does equal more bucks still pervades some deer camps.
Unless you live in a deer desert, shooting does is a must if you want bigger bucks and to not exceed an area’s carrying capacity. This doesn’t mean you have to shoot your state’s bag limit, but not shooting any does is bad news. Not to mention, filling the freezer becomes exponentially harder when you take does out of the equation. Also, if you have kids that hunt, do you really want to tell them they’re only allowed to shoot legal bucks? What if you’re in a one-buck state? It’s not exactly the best bang for your buck.
While this red flag isn’t a norm, it’s still alive and well. If you’re considering a camp that has a no-doe policy, it’s probably a sign that they have other misinformed practices as well.
Locked or Reserved StandsIn high school, I dated a girl who came from a family of hunters. Her dad and brother were members of a camp near their house. While I never got an official invite, they gauged my interest on the prospect of joining this camp. It was a modest-sized camp, but the proximity and price made it intriguing. However, the only kicker was that every member was only allowed two stands that had to be placed before the season. Established members were granted the “best” spots, while new members were dealt the leftovers. Suddenly, the cheap yearly dues made sense.
I’ve seen it spun in other ways, too. I once got an invite to a buddy’s camp where some of the shooting houses had literal locks on them. This is a prime example of greed and selfishness. He had no idea until after he joined the camp that members were allowed to put locks on shooting houses that they placed. I’m not talking about a ladder or hang-on treestands that someone hung in a spot that they scouted. These were camp shooting houses overlooking food plots. You could spot these from a distance because you’d notice a swanky shooting house with a ground blind or ladder stand right next to it. The epitome of petty.
It’s no coincidence that these locked stands appeared in places where mature bucks were killed or showed up on camera. This hardly means such folks locked up the best spots. After all, they’re either chasing dead bucks or ones that showed up during the witching hour. Still, it’s more of an indication that certain members see these spots as exclusive. And those can be tricky waters to navigate.
Pinned Spots OnlyWhile not all clubs are like this, some are very particular about where you can actually hunt. For instance, some places only allow you to hunt designated stand locations. To be fair, sometimes this comes down to a safety issue and preventing others from walking through your spot (though this will still happen). However, if you’re in a 3,000-acre deer camp and you can only hunt spots with actual stands or food plots, you’re just overpaying for limited access.
After a week of the general gun season, deer activity will drop drastically, especially on food plots or historical stand locations. If you’re not allowed to get mobile and adjust your setup, even a hundred yards, you’re basically hoping to get lucky. For this reason, it’s a good idea to ask if mobile hunting is allowed. If there’s even a hesitation, or it’s allowed but frowned upon, you might want to consider another club.
Final ThoughtsNever assume anything, especially when it comes to hunting. It’s always best to ask as many questions as possible so you’ll know what to expect. These are just a few red flags (there are plenty more) that should sway you from having a bad experience. Hopefully, you’ll find a club or camp that’s worth the dues for years to come.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
I dread the first few weeks after I set up a new bow. It’s a first-world problem, I know, but it’s also true. While this might be considered simply a break-in period with the idea that the first few hundred shots will help a fresh rig find its rhythm, there’s more to it.
It’s a new beginning, and that means it’s time for me to break myself in as well. That might seem crazy, but think about your personal target practice routine. Do you shoot as consistently in January as you do in August? Probably not.
Most bowhunters put their bow away at the end of the season, and if they don’t pull it out for spring turkeys, it might not see the light of day until mid-summer. Even if they are shooting an old, reliable rig that has been with them for 10 seasons, they’re starting over for the year.
In both of these cases, the best bet for being a stone-cold killer in stand is to lay down a solid shooting foundation first.
Test Your SkillsWe all know that great archers strive for repeatability. Executing the exact same shot over and over is the goal because it removes the variables that send arrows where they aren’t meant to go. We also know that this isn’t achieved through a couple of practice sessions a week in the days leading up to the season.
Yet, we convince ourselves we are good enough.
After all, if an arrow, or a group of arrows, ends up more or less where we want them, isn’t that proof we are doing our job correctly? Probably not. While a loose group in the vitals on a 3D target in your backyard might seem like evidence of good shooting, that illusion tends to fall apart on real, live deer.
A good way to understand that you have the fundamentals really down, is to ask yourself how scared you are to shoot small bullseyes at, say, 20 yards. If you’re not worried about busting nocks while grouping arrows in a bullseye at close range with a modern compound, you’re not shooting that well.
Make Each Shot CountWhen you think about proper form and shot execution, you’re thinking about a single event that consists of many parts. Drawing, anchoring, aiming, releasing, and then following through, are all steps to the proper bow-shot dance. If any one of them happens differently than it’s supposed to, the whole thing suffers.
We often gloss over this during summertime shooting sessions by shooting too much. If you plan to launch 50 shots in a session, is any single shot all that important? Probably not. It’s easy to wave away an errant arrow when you know you have plenty more to send downrange. This allows us to also ignore what we didn’t do that caused the errant arrow.
A better bet is to shoot more sessions but with far fewer arrows. Make every shot matter. Try to shoot a dozen, where every single shot goes where you want it. If you have one or two that don’t, ask yourself what happened. What can you do to keep that from happening again?
There’s A Time For FunThe problem with spending a few weeks shooting a limited amount of arrows at easy ranges is that it gets boring. While you’re reinforcing muscle memory and shoring up each part of your overall shot process, it’s easy to feel like you’re not making any real progress.
It’s kind of like dumping 15% of every paycheck into ETFs or mutual funds in your retirement account, versus yoloing a big chunk of change in a meme stock. It’s more fun to play the lottery than to play the long game with calculated risks. It’s also far more likely you’ll become wealthy through the mundane route.
To be a good shot is to work through the phase, where the goal is to just be a technically near-perfect shooter. When it’s no longer a question that shooting tight groups will result in busted arrows, then you know that you’re executing. Then you can have some fun.
Build in longer-range shots, shoot from different positions, challenge yourself. Do it in a way that allows you to keep shooting like you’ve reinforced, and you’ll have the best of both worlds. But remember, without the foundation of a proficient shooter, you’re not going to suddenly crush it at long ranges or, more importantly, on live bucks in the woods when the adrenaline is coursing and the window to fill a tag threatens to close at any moment.
For more information on archery gear, check out these articles: What To Look For When Purchasing A Youth Bow, The Best Bow Sights, and Archery 101: How To Choose A Bow.
I was minutes away from leaving. I’d had enough. More than enough, actually. Enough staring into an incessant bitter wind at a whole lot of nothing. Enough driving and scouting my way through prime whitetail country without seeing a single deer in more than 72 hours. It was mid-November, and I had no time to waste time perched in a tree, quickly losing interest and confidence.
I decided to take one last look down the alley before bailing. And there it was. It was as if I’d somehow willed the buck into existence. The howling wind was dead in my face, and there was no chance the buck would catch my scent. The sliver of timbered cover in the miles of prairie formed a perfect funnel laced with active scrapes. The buck was working one as it headed my way. The destination scrape was about 10 steps from the base of my tree.
The buck never got there. I put a broadhead down between its shoulders at a distance of three steps.
That buck from several years ago helped solidify a whitetail strategy that I continue to use today. It is, without question, the most consistent program I’ve used. It’s also stupidly simple. It revolves entirely around scrapes, and in order to figure the process out, I had to forget almost everything I thought I knew about hunting scrapes.
Why scrapes? Because scrapes put me on bucks faster than any other type of sign. Scrapes (and rubs) are the only type of sign that offers positive proof—it was left by bucks, and only scrapes provide the ability to tell with relative certainty that bucks are actively visiting the site.
But what about all that stuff that says scrapes only produce during certain parts of the season or that hunting near scrapes wastes time because they’re generally visited at night? Myths were meant to be busted. And these scrape myths, as far as I’m concerned, have been busted wide open.
The Nocturnal NotionMost of the scrapes I’ve placed cameras over do see frequent after-dark activity. But not every photo was in the dark. And not every scrape showed even a majority of after-dark activity.
There were very clearly scrapes that were preferred by bucks during daylight hours. Some of those scrapes were even located along the edges of fields. But don’t take my word for it. Find some scrapes, hang some cameras over them, and see whether this nocturnal myth is factual.
Scrape Activity Peaks Just Before the Rut Fires UpThis isn’t really a myth. It is, in fact, quite true. However, the message this myth has spread is misleading at best. The fact is, targeting scrape areas is a dynamite tactic in the week when the first does come into heat and the rut gets crazy. But scrapes are also outstanding places to target in September, October, and throughout most of November as well.
Again, when I started to place my scouting, camera, and hunting focus on scrapes, I quickly learned that while there was a bump in activity in late October, those scrape areas proved to be consistent producers of buck activity throughout the fall. And, again, because scrapes are positive indicators of buck activity and it’s easy to determine whether they are being actively visited by bucks, the allure of scrapes as a primary focus of hunting effort makes a ton of sense.
Once the Rut Kicks Off, Bucks Abandon ScrapesAgain, there is a modicum of truth to this myth. But it is another overhyped and misleading notion. Yes, when most does are ready to breed, scrapes draw a bit less attention from neighborhood bucks.
Trailcam data, however, proves without question that scrapes—especially those primary scrape areas with multiple scrapes in a confined area—continue to be part of a prowling buck’s game plan.
No, a buck actively tending a hot doe isn’t likely to stroll past an active scrape. But once he’s done with the doe, guess where he’s headed. That buck will be on the lookout for another hot doe and will check bedding areas and, you guessed it, those scrape areas. Why? Because does utilize scrapes as well, and those scrape areas are generally in or near hubs of deer activity.
The End GameMy scouting efforts are far more productive now than before simply because I’m focusing solely on sign that only bucks can leave: Scrapes.
Speed-scouting a new area is more efficient because I’m not trying to decipher trails, tracks, food sources, or other intangibles that could be considered. I’m not saying those things are unimportant or that you can’t find a killer spot by looking at them. You can. But, for me, scrapes are where the bucks are.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
There comes a point every deer season, typically during the “lockdown” phase of the rut, when my dad and I start working through the long list of terrible excuses contributing to the lack of deer activity on our family property. Bad neighbors, lower deer numbers, terrible acorn crop—all excuses we throw out to console ourselves and gloss over our own shortcomings. Eventually, the conversation turns to off-season work, and my dad will mention how if we had only planted summer food plots, we might have held the does, given the bucks a ton of protein, or at least kept them from the neighbors’ corn feeders.
This sounds like a great idea in theory, and it’s a tactic that gets thrown around in all sorts of hunting media and outlets. I’ve seen plenty of guys standing over a dead booner in the middle of an ag field, saying something about holding deer, growing deer, food for the late season, etc. But those situations don’t apply across the board, and a host of other factors contribute to big properties with big bucks.
Still, that doesn’t mean that weekend warriors or folks with smaller properties won’t entertain the idea of planting a summer food plot. After all, if there’s a way to “hold” and grow deer within your means, wouldn’t you want to try?
To find some kind of answer, I spoke with Dr. Bronson Strickland, the St. John Family Endowed Professor of Wildlife Management at Mississippi State University. Along with being a distinguished professor and deer research expert at the MSU Deer Lab, Dr. Strickland is also one of the cohosts of the Deer University Podcast. If you’re thinking of planting summer plots this year, consider these points from Dr. Strickland.
Prepping the DirtBefore diving in, Dr. Strickland emphasized that planting food plots are just one way to make habitat improvements, and they’re certainly not going to solve your big buck troubles overnight.
“We want people to know they have several options,” he said. “They don’t have to just rely on ag. There are other things people can do that are more beneficial than just planting a food plot.”
Still, he did insist that they can play a vital role in habitat management, especially if you live in nutrient or management-poor areas. For instance, he pointed out that summer food plots can have the greatest impact in places where agricultural land isn’t readily available.
“Summer food plots are probably more important in the Southeast than they are the Midwest,” he said. “There’s a direct relationship to the land and the food sources they have available. Midwestern deer live in the heart of ag country. This isn’t necessarily the case for deer in the Southeast. It isn’t that midwestern deer are just bigger or that the relationship is related to latitude per se, it’s more so the food they have available.”
Summer Food is VitalSummer food is important, but that constitutes natural forage and browse, too, not just summer food plots. Dr. Strickland works with or sees tons of properties that practice habitat management for deer. However, he noted that the best properties incorporate both timber management operations and some type of agricultural practice like planting food plots. Rather than an either/or equation, hunters should be doing both.
One way to increase the amount of herbaceous plants available for deer is to drop some trees and get sunlight on the forest floor before or during early summer. At this point in the year, the natural plants that deer desire are highly nutritious, so you probably don’t need to worry about planting a summer food source then. However, late summer can be a critical time to do so.
“By the end of summer, when most plants go to seed, the nutritional value is far less than it was at the beginning of summer,” he said. “You can either use a late-season fire to stimulate growth, or you can plant a summer food source. Mid- or end-of-summer food plots are a ‘nutritional bottleneck’ for deer because the nutrient demands for deer are greater this time of year, and the food is scarce. It’s the most demanding time for does, but it’s also the time of year when bucks are wrapping up their antler growth.”
Dr. Strickland also noted that some naturally occurring plants are just as nutritious as anything you can plant. The difference lies in the way natural browse and food plots are dispersed. Basically, forage is broadcasted, whereas food plots are concentrated. The concentration of nutrients is what makes late summer food plots beneficial for deer during this time of year.
Are Summer Food Plots Beneficial for Small Properties?I assume that most folks probably have smaller (10-100 acres) properties they’re interested in managing or improving, whether privately owned or leased. According to Dr. Strickland, warm-weather food sources during the latter part of summer will benefit a few-several deer but won’t have an impact on the local population.
“A larger landowner (500-several thousand acres) will positively influence the local population,” he said, “but if you have fifty acres, food plot management just isn’t going to move the needle for local populations. You’re definitely influencing some deer, but you won’t see a local improvement.”
While smaller habitat management operations might not be affecting the general population in isolation, it seems they can positively influence a few deer hanging around a given property. So, if you have a few bucks that you consistently see on camera this summer, putting in a summer food plot might not be a bad idea if you’re wanting to beef them up.
Do Summer Food Plots Contribute Greatly to Antler Growth?One of the main agendas pushed in the whitetail space is the idea of growing bigger deer, especially with summer food plots. These ads, promotions, commercials, etc., are usually accompanied by pictures of deer in velvet munching on leafy greens in the middle of a field. But does that actually correlate to bigger antler growth?
According to Dr. Strickland, it depends on the situation. For instance, he referenced this study, which showed the deer they observed demonstrated 10, sometimes 20% increases in antler size that were a direct response to changes in diet quality. However, it applied mainly to deer that only had prior access to poor or nutrient-lacking food. For deer that already live in ag country or have access to nutrient-dense food, little to no changes occurred.
In short, if you live in a whitetail food desert, planting a warm-season plot might not be a bad idea. On the other hand, if you or your neighbors already have the groceries, you might better off concentrating your efforts and resources in other ways, like improving bedding areas or trimming shooting lanes.
Do Summer Food Plots “Hold” Deer on a Property?In true academic fashion, Dr. Strickland gave a “Yes and No” to this response, with a caveat, of course. He pointed out that we have to think more about deer movement rather than their eating habits.
In this study, Dr. Strickland observed that ⅓ of the collared bucks had a mobile personality with two very distinct home ranges, one of those bucks actually crossed the Mississippi River and split time between Louisiana and Mississippi. The other ⅔ of those bucks, which he labeled “sedentary,” had a home range of about 1500 acres. These deer had access to premium ag and natural browse, yet their movements couldn’t be correlated to available food sources. Dr. Strickland noted that food plots or sources can “certainly influence where a buck spends time,” but they won’t cause a deer to shift its home range.
In fact, Dr. Strickland emphasized that hunters, especially on smaller properties, should be more focused on the available cover than the amount of summer food, especially considering that deer home ranges and food sources will change by the time the rut rolls around.
“Summer food can be vital for deer, but when gun season kicks in, I’d rather have half of my property in cover,” he said. “and then have natural browse or a food plot or two.”
So, if you’re really interested in “holding” deer, consider habitat improvements that will offer deer more bedding when all the leaves are gone. A summer food plot might offer them necessary nutrients now, but just know it won’t be the reason they’re around come November.
The VerdictYou’ll have to evaluate your own situation to determine if a summer food plot(s) is worth planting. If you’re already surrounded by ag and tons of nutrient-dense food, I’d say you can focus on other things. However, if your hunting situation looks more like the big woods, you’ll probably see a positive influence from a summer plot over the next couple of seasons. Just remember to keep expectations realistic.
Dr. Strickland did emphasize that if you endeavor to plant warm-season plots, just know they require a bit more work than fall/winter plots. He encouraged taking a soil sample so that you know exactly what nutrients your plot will need to thrive.
As bowhunters, we strive to be ethical, lethal, and humane. To accomplish this, our bows need to be tuned to ensure accurate and repeatable arrow flight. Unfortunately, this tends to be an intimidating hurdle for novice bowhunters. When you begin your tuning journey, you may become frustrated, view bow tuning as a form of black magic, or accuse the bow of being a lemon. Fortunately, a little tinkering and learning basic tuning principles will go a long way.
Selecting Arrow Spine & Tuning Arrows to Your BowWithout the proper arrow spine, achieving a perfect tune becomes increasingly difficult. As a starting point, an arrow manufacturer’s spine chart will get you awfully close. Be sure to choose a spine chart that includes point weight as a variable. Increasing the point weight of your arrow, including the weight of the insert, will weaken the spine of your arrow. Conversely, the shorter you cut your arrow shaft, the stiffer the arrow becomes. To achieve a fine tune, an arrow saw can help you zero in on the optimal arrow length for your particular bow.
Locating Center ShotCenter shot is the geometric center point of the bow, where your arrow rest and string nocking point are mathematically centered in relation to the cams. The string nocking point is usually the middle point of the bowstring, measured between the top and bottom cam. As for the arrow rest center shot, it’s as simple as adjusting your arrow rest left and right so that your arrow shaft is the specified distance away from the bow’s riser. This measurement is usually 13/16-inch; however, some bow manufacturers have differing specs. Do a quick internet search for your specific make and model.
Keep in mind that setting your bow up for center shot is purely a starting point. You may need to adjust your arrow rest and/or nocking point, little by little, until you achieve a tune. Learning to tie in nocking points will help you keep track of micro-adjustments to your nocking point.
Paper TuningMost archers know of and have attempted paper tuning. But, for many bowhunters, achieving a paper tune is also the end of the tuning process. It’s best to think of paper tuning as step two of the bow-tuning process. Achieving a bullet hole through paper doesn’t assure your bow is perfectly tuned because a paper tune only indicates arrow flight at one distance and one point in time. Therefore, at longer distances and with broadheads attached, there is likely fine tuning that needs to take place.
Because this article is intended to blueprint the overall bow tuning process, and paper tuning could be the subject of an entire article itself, do an internet search to learn more about the paper tuning process. Gold Tip has a handy chart that has long been my preferred reference for paper tuning guidance. In a nutshell, to achieve a paper tune, you’ll micro-adjust your arrow rest and nocking point to achieve stable arrow flight. Adjusting draw weight, cutting arrow shafts, adding point weight, and cam tuning may also be required.
Walk-Back TuningWalk-back tuning helps an archer learn more about arrow flight at varying distances, whereas paper tuning only indicates arrow flight at a fixed distance. Walk-back tuning is simple, tape or draw a bold vertical line on your archery target. This bold line will be your aiming point. You’re not concerned about a vertical aiming point, rather, you’re only concerned about whether or not your arrow is impacting the target along the vertical tape line.
To eliminate the variable of your sight’s 3rd axis, use your 20-yard pin for each shot. Start by taking one shot at 20 yards. Hopefully, the arrow impacted the vertical line. Next, walk back to 30 yards and take another shot using your 20-yard pin. Hopefully, the arrow also impacted the tape line, below your 20-yard arrow. Repeat this process at 40, 50, and 60 yards.
If your arrows are vertically in line, with each arrow impacting the target below the previous shot, your arrow rest is pretty darn centered. However, if your arrows hit the tape on your 20-yard shot, but each subsequent shot starts exponentially creeping left or right of the tape, adjustments to your arrow rest are required. If your arrow consistently impacts right of the line, move your arrow rest left and vice versa.
Broadhead TuningWe put in all this extra effort with bowhunting in mind. Achieving perfect broadhead flight should be the ultimate goal. Therefore, conducting broadhead tuning is the final test. Broadhead tuning is simply making micro-adjustments to your arrow rest and/or nocking point until your broadheads and field points each impact the same spot consistently.
This is where choosing an arrow rest with an ultra-fine micro-adjustment feature is important. Do the same test at varying yardages, with the appropriate pin this time, to see if your broadheads consistently group with field points. If your broadhead impacts to the right of your field point, adjust your arrow rest to the right. If your broadhead impacts high, raise your nocking point.
Advanced TuningAt the end of the day, not all tuning can be done without a bow press. For bows that won’t tune via the methods above, a bow press becomes necessary. Access to a bow press allows you to decompress your limbs, cables, and string, allowing you to fine tune draw length, cam timing, yoke tune, and adjust/shim your cams laterally left and right.
If you’re unfamiliar with these tuning techniques, a trip to your local bow shop is in order. The good news is that these tuning techniques aren’t always necessary, and often a combination of basic tuning methods will have you shooting broadheads like never before.
In high school, I had hunting access to a decent-sized (80-acre) family property. I can count on both hands how many sits didn’t involve deer. My dad, grandfather, and I all killed multiple good bucks out there. Deer did deer things, and we knew that if we put time in during the rut, we’d probably get a crack at a decent buck.
But what made it so great were the adjoining properties, which had zero hunting pressure. In fact, one of the adjoining landowners was an avid hunter who paid who-knows-what for a deer lease in a county known for big bucks. While I’m sure he had plenty of good encounters, he either didn’t care or didn’t know about the great hunting in his own literal backyard. But that’s probably a lesson we can all benefit from.
Travel hunting provides some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences you can have as a hunter. Discovering new ground, punching a tag on limited time, and creating new memories with friends (or on your own) are all great reasons to hunt across state lines. With the endless amount of hunting content on YouTube and social media, it can be tempting to think you’re missing out if you don’t hit the road. But, this type of thinking can cause us to neglect the opportunities in our own backyard.
Proximity is Your FriendAside from non-resident tags, gas and lodging (if you don’t tent camp) can quickly burn through most of your travel hunting budget. Hunt near home, and you’ll have free(ish) lodging and will likely spend less on gas. Even if you lease land or pay dues at a nearby hunting club, the costs might look similar to what you’d spend on a seven-day travel hunt.
I have a hunting buddy who prefers hotels to tent camping, and I’m not talking about a sketchy Motel 6. Before he bought a new vehicle, he insisted on renting a truck anytime he went out of state to hunt. Even on the generous side, he would spend nearly two grand just on travel and lodging for a weeklong hunt, which is probably the minimum number of days you need to maximize your time.
I realize most people don’t rent a truck to hunt out of state, but even the lodging, gas, and food could cost you a solid one-year hunting camp membership, which you can utilize for 52 weeks. Obviously, there are ways to save money on hunting trips, but you’ll have to be honest about what types of comfort you’re willing to sacrifice to do so.
As cliché as it sounds, some travel-hunting experiences are hard to put a price on. But, if you’re trying to maximize your time and budget, consider these costs before hitting the road.
Learn Familiar GroundDeveloping hunting and general outdoors skills takes time. The more purposeful time you spend in the woods or on stand, the better. This doesn’t mean you volume hunt the same few stands in hopes that a mature buck walks by. Instead, try learning an entire property or area to the best of your abilities.
This is one major advantage of staying local. If you have access to properties near your home, you can easily pop over for quick scouting trips before or after work, check cameras, or conduct observation sits (if possible). You can also afford to be a bit more surgical about how and when you decide to hunt certain spots. With travel hunting, you cannot. Come rain, shine, or competition, you need to be in the woods if you want to make the most of your trip and not waste your money.
It’s also important to understand that even if you think you’ve pinned down a property one year, the next year might throw you a curveball. Habitat conditions change constantly, and deer will notice this way before you do. It takes years to learn a property, and even then, it’s never a done deal.
We tend to think about deer season as a single event. In reality, there are multiple seasons within a season. Food sources, bedding, and travel routes (typically) change during a single season. Figuring out those changing patterns requires years’ worth of hunting and scouting, even on small properties. But those skills don’t just apply to a single property. They won’t be an exact blueprint for everywhere and every situation, but they will translate to other encounters when you do decide to hit the road.
The Reality of Travel HuntingHunting media and shows give you the condensed highlights of a hunt. Mainly because shows need to keep viewers’ attention. What you don’t see on those shows are the empty sits, long drives, and the even longer list of things that go wrong when you’re on the road. Also, there’s a lot of solitude on solo travel hunts. If you’re not used to this or you prefer the company of others, then you probably shouldn’t travel hunt alone.
At this point, mentioning the public land craze is sort of a given for travel hunting. Still, it’s always a bit jarring, albeit unsurprising, to see pickups crowding the parking lots or lining the boundaries of public lands. And if you think you’re the only hunter willing to walk a mile or show up to the trailhead two hours early, you’re in for a wake-up call. This is the reality of travel hunting, especially public land whitetail hunting. While competition shouldn’t dissuade you from hunting out of state, you should be prepared for it.
Conquer Your Home TurfRichard Hugo, a poet and writer who wrote extensively on Montana and rural life, has a poem that argues you can never fully appreciate or experience a new place or stage of life “until the town you came from dies.” Essentially, the inability to move beyond the past will tarnish even your best accomplishments. Hunting is no different. Even if you find success in another state, your failure in your own state will haunt you—until you finally get it done.
I’m not saying you should never travel hunt. I think everyone should at least once. But there’s a case to be made about sharpening your skills at home. If you can appreciate the opportunities and successes at home, they’ll be that much sweeter when you can put them in the rearview.
My world in bowhunting began from a humble ground-swatting position. It wasn't until I turned fourteen that my dad gave me a clunky climbing stand, the kind that's built to last. This was a game-changer. I was experiencing deer hunting from an elevated position, and that perspective increased my love for deer hunting like nothing else.
After a few years of grinding tree bark, clinking, and clunking around the woods, I needed something more. Often, I'm overly skeptical of "trending" gear. With new gear on the market, I usually sit back to see how things pan out for everyone else. It was only a short time until I learned of hang-on tree stands and sticks, and I was intrigued by how many options I’d have with a setup like that.
I picked up a budget set of a stand and sticks and went to work as soon as I had dollars to spend. It made bowhunting even better. I could sit comfortably in almost any tree I wanted. Soon after my purchase, I finally killed my first archery buck. It took eighteen years of trying and a few rifle bucks in between, but it certainly added fuel to the fire.
If you’re still holding on tight to your treestand, here are a few reasons to reconsider trying out a mobile setup.
Don't be a SkepticLike many hunters, I was skeptical when I first heard about saddle hunting. A glorified rock climbing harness for hunting? It sounded like a gimmick. But the more I learned about it, the more I realized its potential. It's not just a trendy piece of gear; it's a valuable tool that can enhance your hunting experience in ways you might not expect.
Thinking the trend would fade when people realized this was not the way, I discovered I was wrong. The trend stuck, and the more I heard, the more I wanted to know. Too much time went by, and I caved. I bought my first Tethrd Predator Saddle Kit. Maybe you aren't in the "mobile" hunting community where all the hype is, but it's impossible to argue the effectiveness of a saddle, even for private land hunters who need to up their game to kill a special buck.
Get the Hang of ThingsAt first, climbing with a saddle is awkward, but anyone can get the hang of it after a few sessions in the backyard. In my entry sessions, I learned all the best methods for taking various shots from the saddle, and the shot options are endless.
What you've probably already learned about hunting is that nothing is done right the first time. Proper shooting form needs lots of practice. Your first hike in the dark could have you wandering in circles. Repetition is vital to most things in hunting, and any climbing tool is no exception. It should be one of the things you practice most. After all, it does account for a high number of accidental injuries every year.
I was a big-time greenhorn during my debut hunting season with a saddle. I needed more time to grasp the necessary skills. Climbing and choosing a tree that season was challenging. But during that first year, I managed to arrow one of my best public land bucks in the big woods of Pennsylvania. Saddles completely won me over. I couldn't have climbed my chosen tree with any other tree stand. Because I was in the saddle, I was able to sit in the right place at the right time.
Comfort and SafetyCan saddles be uncomfortable at times? Fidgeting and sore joints may occur during an all-day sit. But I've never sat in a treestand for twelve hours and felt like I had just wrapped up a day in the spa. In fact, I know a few hunters who pop meds just so their rear end won't get sore after hours of stand time.
As for safety concerns, most treestand accidents happen when a hunter moves on or off a stand. The next leading cause is failing to wear a harness. In a saddle, you're always in a harness, and the attachments connecting you to the tree come with serious weight ratings. One of the coolest things I've experienced while hunting from a saddle is my fear of heights disappearing. Because I always feel tension connecting me to the tree, I’m more apt to take an accurate shot. There is confidence in my foot and my anchor points that take away the knee-knocking. That alone was worth a saddle for me.
Why Fix What's Not BrokeThe phrase "if it's not broke, don't fix it" is often taken out of context. For example, a fisherman who catches piles of fish from the shore is a good fisherman. But would fishing from a boat make him better? Plenty of big buck slayers hunt solely from ladder stands, hang-on stands, and climbing stands. But how many bucks did they have their heart set on and couldn't close the deal? Would it have made a difference if they had a game-day plan to get deeper into a sensitive bedding area?
A saddle is a must-have tool for any hunter who spends time in an elevated position. Its versatility is unmatched, and it offers many benefits for hunters who need to move in deep. Not only is it more stealthy and less bulky, but it's also lighter in weight, making it the best choice for any hunt at a distance from the truck.
What if you kill a deer three miles deep in the big timber? Do you want to hike back to the truck with your deer or gear and then return for whatever you left in the woods? I'm a once-in and once-out type. If I'm going to hike out heavy, I want to be able to carry all of it. Depending on the size of the deer you kill or how many reliable buddies you have, you might be fine carrying a tree stand and a deer out in one fell swoop. A saddle, especially in a solo setting, makes this task far easier.
Admitting is the First Step to RecoveryI admit I was wrong about the trend. Saddles are not just a trendy piece of gear; they are an excellent tool. In most situations, they rule the roost. They've improved my hunting experience significantly and can do the same for you. You might look like a monkey, but I'll be willing to bet you'll love every minute of it.
Humans have a problem with defaulting to certain beliefs that allow us to give up and not try. Currently, a lot of these have to do with finances. If you believe that you’ll be living that renter life forever because home prices will always outpace your paycheck, you might prove yourself right.
The 25-year-old who buys into the notion that retirement is an impossible dream, likely won’t start socking away a little from each paycheck. After all, what’s the point? Giving ourselves an airtight out on the tough stuff makes it seem like things are totally beyond our control, but that’s not always the case. Deer hunters do this, too.
This most commonly manifests itself in the form of the hunter who will proclaim to anyone who will listen that there are no mature bucks in his neck of the woods, so it’s not worth holding out. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that in my home state of Minnesota, or when I’ve been on the road somewhere hunting public land deer in some flyover state.
There are a lot of things that have to come together to kill a mature buck for most of the general hunting population, but the idea that they just aren’t around is usually way overblown.
Quality Versus Quantity Of Quality It’s not uncommon to hear someone talk about the corn-fed, genetically superior bucks of a state like Iowa. Certainly, Iowa is a place worth hunting, but it’s not just because the bucks can get to 200 inches there. It’s because a lot of bucks tend to get older there, which means the opportunities for solid deer are high. Forget the outlier giants for a second.
It’s the quantity of good deer that makes Iowa so fun. The promise of a true behemoth is always exciting, but it’s the population of 140-ish type deer that makes the whole thing so dang enjoyable. Potential-wise, the top end in Iowa isn’t any different from a lot of states.
Even in the states that just aren’t likely to grow the freakish giants, there are still mature deer that no one would be sad to see coming down the trail. There just aren’t very many of them. This means you have to put some effort into finding what’s actually available to you if you want to breathe the rarified air of a mature buck killer.
Scrape Together Real IntelI’m a firm believer that summer trail cameras placed on field edges and over supplemental feeding stations, where legal, don’t do most hunters a whole lot of good. The real benefit there is showing what bucks are around and could be available during the season. In that way, we know how to find mature bucks. Put some cameras up in obvious spots, and then wait.
That doesn’t get most of us any closer to killing one, and in some states isn’t much of a possibility. If you hunt the big woods up north or down south, you might not have access to a field edge within miles of you. You might also think that means you aren’t around any big ones.
This is another Iowa phenomenon. The deer in the Hawkeye state are visible. Ditto for Kansas. It’s easy to believe you have some good deer to hunt when you can see dozens of them on the right drive through the country at sunset. It’s a whole other thing when you could put serious miles on your hunting rig and barely see a deer, let alone bachelor groups of toads munching away in an alfalfa field.
If you don’t believe there are mature deer in your area to hunt, you have to conduct regionally specific recon. Trail cameras are the obvious choice here. If you can’t glass, get boots on the ground and look for oversized tracks. Do what you have to in order to actually challenge your whitetail worldview. Then try to understand what it means.
Commensurate EffortA common problem I see with a lot of whitetail hunters is that they’ll get some summertime pics of a good deer, and then pin their hopes on that buck, in that spot, making their season. The problem is we tend to run cameras where we want to hunt, not to figure out what the bucks are really doing in their day-to-day lives.
Look at it this way. If you have a favorite spot, maybe where you have a ladder stand or a box blind, you’re very likely to run a camera there. That camera, given enough time, is very likely to gather some exciting intel. Then, you’re very likely to hunt there for that deer, a lot.
If you can get over the hurdle of realizing that you’re not in a big buck black hole and have something mature to target, the next leap you need to make is in effort. An average effort will produce average results. This is why you hear so many stories of people who never saw their target buck while hunting all season long. This is also why so many folks find excuses to not hunt throughout much of the season. After all, why wake up two hours before first light to sit in the woods when you know there are no 150-inchers around? Or, that the one 150-incher in the section isn’t likely to walk by.
The thing is, if you don’t try to figure out more about the biggest deer around you, they will elude you easily. The summertime trail camera pic is great, but can you lay eyes on that bachelor group in person? Can you walk out to the woodlot to track-check a ditch or creek or fence crossing? What can you do beyond acknowledging he’s living there somewhere?
The rarer a mature buck is, the more effort each deer takes. That’s not rocket science, but it’s also hard for people to grasp.
ConclusionThere are big enough bucks all over. The top-end in Georgia might not rival Illinois, but the gap is closer than most think. Mature deer in every corner of the whitetail’s range can produce impressive headgear. They are tough to find, and extremely tough to figure out well enough to be in the game. That doesn’t mean the effort isn’t worth it though, because it is–even if most people don’t believe it.
For more deer hunting info, check out these articles: How to Introduce Your Kids to Deer Scouting, How the Newest Generation of Whitetails Survives, and What Whitetails Can Teach You About Hunting Ethics.
Last deer season, I saddled up for the first sit of the season. That morning was unseasonably cool. I was riding the high of opening day and felt zero fatigue, despite my 2:30 alarm. I settled in long before sunrise, anticipating a quick, successful hunt on my family’s property. But, as light broke, I began to notice the lack of clear shooting lanes. I’d hunted this property my whole life but neglected to get back there for some offseason prep.
When full-blown shooting hours arrived, so did a couple does—on the outskirts of bow range. The historical trail I’d seen and killed plenty of deer on wasn’t a highway anymore, and the new trail should have been apparent, even in the dark. I didn’t punch a tag that morning and had to watch eight does feed out of range. It was a lesson in summer preparation that cost me a chance to punch an opening day tag.
While it might seem like there’s plenty of time now, the eve of the season will be here whether you prepare or not. Clearing shooting lanes, hanging stands, or trail cameras are just a few ways to prepare, and certainly the most highlighted summer prep out there, but there are other things that deserve your attention, too. Here’s a few things you can do now to be better prepared come fall.
E-ScoutingThis is an evergreen chore, but you shouldn’t have any problem conducting your e-scouting during the summer months, especially if you live in the South like me. Right now, it’s hot, the humidity is as thick as gravy, and we get a surprise thunderstorm at least once a day. I used to survey new ground during the summer months until multiple encounters with cottonmouths made me rethink my timing. Now, I leave my boots-on-the-ground homework for just before the season or February.
Sure, dropping pins is a great place to start, but you need to scour those e-maps before checking this step off your list. If you use OnX, it’s helpful to utilize features like the leaf-off imagery to find habitat edges that don’t readily jump off the map.
Even if you’re pressed for time, at least driving by a potential hunting spot can be helpful. It won’t give you a comprehensive idea of the land, but sometimes it can tell you if it deserves a closer look. I’ve dropped pins on spots only to find that the road, creek, etc., on the map, actually wasn’t a road or creek at all. A quick drive-by can confirm or dispel these assumptions.
Target PracticeBowhunting requires a regular shooting routine if you want to consistently hit your target. Most dedicated archers already have some sort of routine, but rifle hunters tend to neglect this fact until just before opening day. I’m not saying you have to burn twenty boxes of ammo or even shoot every week, but shooting a pie tin freehanded at fifty yards won’t cut it either.
Unless you’re hunting from a shooting house, you’ll rarely get that perfect broadside shot. Instead of shooting from the bench and calling it good, shoot your rifle from multiple positions. Lying prone, kneeling, and drawing your gun to your shoulder for a standing shot are great positions to practice. They’re also common shooting positions that you’ll encounter in the field.
The same goes for saddle hunters. Ever fired a rifle from a saddle? It’s not the most natural shooting position, especially if you have to shoot behind you or to your weak side (which happens often). Not only will this make you more comfortable firing your gun, but it will better prepare you when it’s time to make a quick, offhand shot.
It also helps to occasionally practice rifle drills with an elevated heart rate. You won’t be able to mimic the adrenaline rush of buck fever, but you can get something similar. Don’t worry about running a mile and then shooting your rifle, but a few burpees before taking a practice shot is a great way to evaluate how you perform when your heart feels like it’s about to explode.
Gear CheckNow is a great time to test your hunting gear. Purchasing and practicing with your hunting gear before the season isn’t just necessary but highly practical. For starters, it can save you money. Companies and manufacturers experience a boom during hunting season because it’s fresh on everyone’s mind, and a lot of folks procrastinate.
During the slow summer months, a lot of companies will run random sales to generate business. This is a great time to purchase one of the best hunting scopes, a new bow sight, tree saddle, or even one of the best hunting rifles. Purchasing gear now means you can spread out your costs and make everything a bit more affordable.
On the other hand, familiarizing yourself with your hunting gear before the season can help you create a streamlined system. This includes taking inventory, organizing your gear, and stealth-stripping anything that can clang. I like to start by checking off necessities like tow ropes, headlamps and batteries, game bags, multitools, first aid, and other less flashy items.
Next, I’ll make sure everything’s stowed in packs and pockets that make sense. You certainly don’t have to buy multiple packs, but I have two of the best hunting backpacks that I rotate between. I use one for occasional all-day sits or when I need to haul a ton of gear. The other is a minimalist pack for quick hang-and-hunts or still hunting. I’ll keep some of those less flashy items in both packs, so when it’s time to make a switch, I only need to transfer a few things.
Working OutI’m a firm believer that a fitness routine can do wonders for your hunting (the health benefits should also entice you). While you should have started training for deer season earlier this year, anytime is a great day to start. If you’ve been training all year, consider (safely) ramping up the volume or intensity before the season gets here.
No, you don’t have to squat 500 pounds or run a five-minute mile to chase whitetails. But you don’t want to have a heart attack dragging out a buck, either. This physical and mental toughness you build with a fitness routine translates to hunting and other areas of life.
If you’re just starting a fitness routine, incorporate running into your daily schedule or at least some fast-paced walks with your hunting pack. Anything is better than nothing.
Prep Now, Reap LaterIt’s tempting to put off these tasks for another weekend. However, just like deer season, there are only so many summer months, and I bet your to-do list is probably longer than you think. Don’t wait until opening day to realize you’re underprepared. After all, it just might cost you a tag.
After driving throughout the night, the sun illuminated a landscape that I'd seen only on a computer screen. The digital images of Google Earth displayed an open prairie laced with thin ribbons of trees along infrequent drainages. I was having serious doubts going into this hunt—and that's an understatement.
In reality, the land looked far less appealing than it did on a screen. In fact, it looked like a place no sensible deer hunter would bother to visit. And, yet, I'd just driven more than 18 hours straight and dropped more than $500 on a deer license to hunt in the famed state of Kansas.
I thought I had made a terrible mistake. I could not imagine any deer living in this barren moonscape. It was the first piece of public ground I'd singled out, and I was eager to see what it was like in real life. Still, I simply could not fathom how the giant whitetails I'd heard about for years could live there.
It took less than 10 minutes to learn a very valuable lesson: whitetails do, indeed, live on that spare prairie ground, and they can grow to be giants.
For the next decade or so, I spent a lot of time on public ground in Kansas (and other states). There was also a measure of hunting pressure to deal with, but with a little extra effort and careful research, finding a place to spend a week chasing fully mature deer was very doable.
Today? Things are different. Very different.
I'll start by stating that I still primarily hunt public ground and expect to hunt fully mature deer when I do so. However, the overall quality of the hunting experience on public ground can't be compared to that of a decade ago.
The amount of hunting pressure on public lands has increased exponentially, and this is the case in every state I've hunted over the past few years, including Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Missouri. From the most remote locations to those bordering major cities, the results have been the same: plenty of company.
This explosive growth in the popularity of public land hunting has been coupled with the explosive growth in the use of mobile tactics sparked by the growth of the saddle-hunting culture and its related accessories.
I want to pause here for clarification. I have no real beef with this increase in public land popularity. Heck, I suppose in some ways I've probably contributed to it, given my history in outdoor media and my focus on public land hunting. Nor do I have an issue with the mobile hunting crowd. I've personally employed mobile tactics for a long, long time. They are effective, and they're fun.
That all said, the mobile hunting movement has caused the impact of the increased focus on public lands to be greatly amplified. Why? Because mobile hunting tactics, by default, put far more pressure on a far greater amount of ground over a period of time than standard tactics. I'll explain.
Big FootprintWhen I refer to mobile tactics, I'm generally talking about the use of highly portable equipment for hunting from an elevated position. Super-light climbing sticks, saddles, and related equipment make it easier to penetrate deeper into an area and much less of a hassle to change locations multiple times during a hunt. Think about that for a moment.
When I first started hunting public ground, I had limited options for climbing sticks and hang-on stands. I went with the lightest, most portable options available. They were still quite bulky and heavy, but I was far more mobile than most because I was far more willing to do the hard work and able to move around more. But, even then, I was reluctant to move stand locations a couple of times over the course of a weekend, let alone do so multiple times a day.
By their very nature, mobile tactics mean people are spending more time moving around, pushing deeper, and covering more ground than before. This exposes more deer-holding habitat to human pressure. Pressured deer are tougher to hunt and more likely to leave those areas.
Big ImpactAnother facet of the mobile movement that has a dramatic, and potentially negative impact on public hunting is the focus of using these tactics to target bedding areas.
Again, I can't argue with the logic of the tactic because I've focused specifically on thick security cover for a long, long time. This also happens to be the type of cover used for bedding. The difference, however, is that this type of cover was once seldom targeted.
The preferred method was to hunt transition areas, travel corridors, and terrain features, and that's what the majority of hunters did. This left those critical areas of dense cover relatively pressure-free. Because of this, the deer living in the area were less likely to abandon the public ground even if they did encounter some hunting pressure on a routine basis.
But, when those deer start encountering moderate to heavy hunting pressure in their bedrooms, that’s a formula that will not equal long-term hunting quality. The deer will simply abandon those areas in search of less dangerous places to live.
This is exactly what I've seen over the past couple of years. Areas that routinely held solid numbers of whitetails and could be counted on to provide some measure of predictable deer activity have become barren. The deer, quite simply, have been moved out of the area by heightened levels of human intrusion into their core areas.
Big MistakesOf course, I realize that I'm making some broad generalizations here. I do not intend to portray mobile tactics or a newfound focus on hunting public land as all negative. In my experience, they have hurt the overall quality of public land hunting, but they've also helped get more people involved in the outdoors. There will always be some give and take. But what we should consider is how the way we hunt can impact those we share public ground with.
Social media personalities and YouTube productions have greatly influenced the mobile hunting movement and the focus on hunting bedding areas. Trust me, as someone who has made a living producing content, the editing process can make things seem far easier than they really are. Pushing deep into bedding areas, hunting from the ground, and trying to pull off stalks or hopping from areas of hot sign throughout the day can seem pretty easy.
It's not. There are a ton of factors involved, and attention to detail is pretty important. Failing to account for the wind direction, the scent you leave as you walk, and the high impact level of your activities in areas with minimal security cover can not only ruin your chances for success during your outing but can completely destroy an area for the duration of the season.
The TakeawayKeep hunting. If you prefer public land, hunt it. If you enjoy mobile tactics and want to target bedding areas, do it. But do it right and in a way that's considerate of others hunting in the area.
Do it in a way that minimizes the pressure you place on the deer you hunt. Your “rut-cation” may only last a week, but there are likely other hunters who would love to hunt longer or have their time off scheduled for the following week.
All I'd ask is this: exercise restraint. Think about the impact your tactics have on the ground you're hunting and understand that someone else will hunt it after you.
When Wisconsin dropped its minimum deer hunting age to zero, a whole new world opened up for my family. My twin daughters were quickly approaching the age where I felt they could hunt whitetails with a crossbow, considering they had already successfully hunted spring turkeys.
What I didn’t realize was that in my excitement for them to become deer hunters, I did everything for them. From scouting to setting blinds to meticulously planning our time during the season, I did it all. That made them shooters, but not really hunters.
After their first season, I set out to make them a bigger part of the pre-season work. This involved them taking an active role in scouting, which taught me a few things about kids in the outdoors.
Bite-Sized Scouting MissionsI’m sure every generation of parents, since we came down from the trees and headed for the caves, has joked that kids have short attention spans. They aren’t built for eight-hour-long scouting missions, which means your best bet is to choose wisely.
My first attempts with my daughters involved pleasant summer evening glassing sessions. Sitting on the edge of a soybean field or an alfalfa field with a spotting scope is a great way to see deer and introduce your kids to the idea of stealth in the woods.
The downside of these sessions can be multi-fold. If it’s too hot, it’s no fun. Try to go when the temperatures are t-shirt tolerable. Also, try to anticipate and prepare for insects. Mosquitoes, no-see-ums, and gnats can all turn a deer scouting mission into low-level torture. Post up where there’s a breeze if you can, and don’t be afraid to employ a Thermacell for the mosquitoes. If you’ve never used one, buy one. You’ll thank me later.
Educate & EntertainThe key to being a good podcast host is to understand that your job is to appear mostly as an entertainer but to secretly work to educate the audience on interesting topics. The same rules apply when you take kids on a deer scouting foray.
Whether your little buddy tags along to check a camera or helps put up a blind for the season, explain what you’re doing. Let them ask a lot of questions, and try to remember that what’s interesting to them might not even show up on your radar. The amount of times my daughters and I have stopped to look at bear tracks in the mud, an interesting spider web, or maybe a shed snake skin is more than I can count.
Where we hunt whitetails is generally interesting, way beyond the fact that deer live there. Slow down, talk about anything and everything, and let the kids experience the outdoors.
Light Work Equals A Lifelong Love As I mentioned, when I first took my daughters hunting, I did all of the setup work without them. They didn’t appreciate the first deer or turkeys they killed as much as I had hoped they would, and it was my fault. They had nothing at stake, nothing invested, so it’s no surprise that they didn’t value the accomplishment as much as I thought they should.
When you include them in scouting, you alter their course as future hunters. The work we put in is the secret sauce that makes success so special. If it’s too easy, it’s just not that fun. I realize this is contrarian messaging because there is an entire industry dedicated to creating products with the sole purpose of making hunting easier.
It’s not supposed to be too easy, though.
When it is, the value of the experience and a successful outcome are diminished. Make your kids put in a little sweat equity. They should carry some gear, help stake down the blinds, trim some shooting lanes, whatever. This process allows them to own their hunt in a different way. Just remember that what seems like a small, menial task to you might be a lot of work for them. Try to toe the line between having them pitch in and going so hard that the fun disappears.
Many of these foundational layers of becoming a hunter can be established on lazy summer scouting missions. Include them, teach them, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll create a hunting partner for life.
For more information about getting kids into the outdoors, check out these articles: The 6 Best Youth Deer Hunting Rifles, What to Look for When Purchasing a Youth Bow, and How to Be Safe with Guns and Kids in Your Home.
Last October, I had the opportunity to hunt and harvest my second melanistic white-tailed deer on our family ranch in Central Texas.
Our tracking and census process on the ranch is a meticulous one. We run trail cameras year-round and study every image in August and September to conduct an accurate census count. We also record stand counts and incidental observations during that time and forward the data to our county’s wild game biologist.
In recent years, we have had at least one melanistic deer in the group. In 2023, we had two melanistic does and one melanistic fawn. The two does were two and three years old. The fawn was the twin of a typical-looking white-tailed deer from a typical-looking mother.
By mid-September, our biologist sent us the harvest recommendations for our Managed Lands Deer Program (MLDP). The program allows us an extended season, beginning on the last day of September until the last day of February. We were issued five buck tags and 10 doe tags for the 2023-2024 hunting season. I decided that if the three-year-old melanistic doe was without a fawn, she could be harvested.
On the afternoon of October 1, I arrived at the ranch with my close friends, Matthew Mitchell and Jon Herbster, to begin working towards our doe harvest numbers. After we made sure our rifles were true out to 300 yards, Matthew took Jon with him to sit in one of the property’s deer blinds.
Jon had been alongside Matthew on a successful hog hunt during a work trip a couple months prior, but that was the extent of Jon’s experience in the stand. Jon was now armed with his hunter’s education certificate, his first hunting license, and was excited for the opportunity to hunt a doe.
Within twenty minutes, Jon and Matthew had a mature doe step out around 165 yards. Jon picked up his 30-06 rifle, and put the crosshairs behind her shoulder. After a few minutes, he brought the rifle back inside. Matthew asked him what was going on. “I’m not sure—it feels early in the hunt. Let’s wait a little bit and see what else shows up,” he said. Eventually, the first doe walked off. Other deer appeared, but they had fawns with them, making them off-limits.
In the last few minutes of legal light, Matthew caught some movement at the end of the far-right lane. Four does were at the edge of the field, eating. He identified one as the three-year-old melanistic doe. Jon was going to take the first shot unless it was a mature buck or the melanistic doe. Matthew wasted no time shouldering his rifle. With light dwindling and with the group packed together, Matthew was unable to make an ethical shot. He brought the gun back into the blind, and they packed up their gear.
Why Are Some Deer Melanistic?Melanism is “an unusual darkening of body tissues caused by excessive production of melanin,” which affects the skin, feathers, and hair. It can give animals a very dark, almost black appearance. Melanism has been recorded in deer herds in 60% of the country, and this region of Texas has the highest concentration.
In fact, a study by John Baccus and John Posey of Texas State University found that 21% of the white-tailed deer in this specific region are “abnormally” dark. It has been reported that there are more melanistic deer in the surrounding eight-county region than the rest of North America combined. It is believed that 9% of the total population in this region carry the trait.
Some have questioned if hunting melanistic deer might have a devastating effect on the population, but an article released by the National Deer Association answers that question:
“Melanistic and normal whitetails do coexist in the same area. Hunters of free-ranging whitetails cannot change population genetics through harvest choices, so harvesting or passing a melanistic deer will have no measurable impact on the frequency of this anomaly.”
After hunting my first melanistic buck on Veterans Day in 2016, I wrote an article documenting the experience. Shortly after it was published, a professor at Texas Tech who studied melanism in white-tailed deer reached out to ask me some questions.
His first was, “Do you have dry or wet creeks running through your property?” I explained that our entire northern boundary was a large creek, and we also had many smaller ones cutting across the property. He explained that the areas where he found there to be a higher number of melanistic deer were always on properties with prolific creek systems.
“They seem to survive better in that environment,” he said.
I told him we witnessed a great deal of hoof traffic in the creeks and along the banks. He thought the creeks provided better safety from predators, and they might benefit from being better camouflaged amongst the shadows under the canopy of trees. We believe the natural terrain and the many habitat restoration and conservation projects we have done (NRCS & CRP) in the last 15 years have undoubtedly helped increase numbers, and sightings, of melanistic deer on our ranch.
Once in a Lifetime…TwiceNone of us had any luck the next morning of our hunt, so we decided to switch things up that last evening, and Jon sat with me. With roughly an hour left in the hunt, we saw five deer moving across the middle-left lane, 175 yards away. Two were mature does with their fawns, and the last was a solo mature doe. After waiting a while for her to separate from the group, I asked Jon if he was ready. He took a deep breath and fired. I was filming the hunt and could clearly see the doe was hit before it took off into the woods. I told Jon to reload in case it crossed into the next lane. She never did.
As Jon settled down a bit from the excitement, he asked me if the shot looked good. I told him, yes, but we could check the camera. We scrolled frame by frame to see if we could tell where the bullet had made an impact. It appeared to us that the shot might have been a bit further back from where he aimed, but we were not certain. Usually, I would wait thirty minutes before tracking an animal, but if it didn’t hit the main vitals, it might need more time. We texted Matthew and told him we were going to stay until dark, then we would all go search together.
That meant that Jon and I both had more time to second-guess our second guessing. We spent the next forty minutes reviewing the footage, trying to make a better determination. Suddenly, I caught some movement down the middle right lane. Three does came out of the woods, and then a fourth emerged behind them. It was the three-year-old melanistic doe. The first two moved towards us, while the melanistic doe began moving along the edge of the woods, with another doe right behind her. I ranged them at 218 yards. I picked up my .280AI chambered rifle, got as comfortable as I could, and moved the safety off.
Right at that exact moment, we heard an army of coyotes sounding off nearby. Had they found Jon’s deer? Or were they only responding to the distant train horn, as they had done so many times before? The deer seemed very nervous. All the noise and the chorus of coyotes yelping and barking away made me think they were about to bolt. I got my shot lined up, placed the crosshairs behind the front shoulder, and took a deep breath.
As the shot rang out, deer ran in every direction, and the dust rose from their excitement. The melanistic doe took off to the left, before circling back towards the stand, and coming to her final rest, about 160 yards away from us. I reloaded in the event I needed to take a second shot, but it was clear she was down.
With about 10 minutes of light remaining, we quickly grabbed the camera and made our way over to the melanistic doe. After taking some photos, I took a moment to let it hit me. I had just taken my second “once in a lifetime” animal on my family ranch. I bowed my head, put my hands on the doe, and said a prayer of thanks.
We picked up Matthew and walked back to the spot where Jon had shot his doe. We put on our headlamps and looked around. After close to ten minutes, we hadn’t found any blood—not a good sign. We decided to expand our grid search out to one hundred yards. I dipped down into a dry creek bed about seventy yards from where we started looking. I turned and saw something white behind a tree. I walked over and saw it was a sun-faded shed antler. I picked it up and looked around to see if there was a matching set. I didn’t see another shed, but I did catch a glimpse of something else…Jon’s doe!
We couldn’t see any evidence that it had been shot, and there was not one drop of any blood anywhere near the deer. When we rolled her over, it was very evident that Jon had made a perfect heart shot on his first-ever animal. Why had I ever doubted him?
Back at camp, Matthew guided Jon on how to butcher the doe while I began meticulously skinning mine. I took my time removing the cape. I had plans to get a shoulder mount of the melanistic doe to put next to the shoulder mount of my melanistic buck. We eventually got everything in our coolers to bring home to our respective families and then celebrated with a well-deserved meal.
I am still amazed that Jon and I harvested such memorable deer. I love sharing these experiences with my friends and family on our ranches. My uncle and grandfather taught me so many lessons here—what it means to take care of our property, how to be a responsible and ethical hunter, and how to be a conscious conservationist. I’m at a stage in my life where I thoroughly enjoy passing on the knowledge and skill sets I have acquired from so many important mentors and teachers. These experiences and stories that we collect in the woods, the memories we make with family and friends, and the delicious wild game meals we put on the table are truly the real reward.
I recently mentioned to a hunting buddy of mine that I already have some cameras out, along with one really good rut setup ready to go. He was a little surprised since our conversation happened before turkey season was fully played out.
His mindset is a common one, and there’s nothing wrong with it. After all, the earliest bow seasons are still months away. There is plenty of time to get the work accomplished, but there’s also an argument to be made that time is a huge asset when it comes to running trail cameras.
Daily, Weekly & Monthly MovementHunters often have the misconception that patterning a buck involves figuring out what he does every day. To them, I say, good luck. Unless you’re on a big chunk of primo ground with very little influence from other hunters, the belief that most bucks will do the same thing every day is not rooted in reality. The closest you’ll get is the summertime pattern, and even that usually isn’t cookie-cutter repeatable.
This is even less likely if you tend to hunt small parcels or any spots, private or public, with plenty of competition. What is true is that summer gives you the best chance to pattern bucks, even if their movements are only repeatable a few times each week or even each month.
This is where time comes into play.
If you scout like most hunters, you probably won’t get cameras out until July or August. That cuts the amount of time you can gather summertime intel by half. When you’re dealing with deer that aren’t on a day-to-day pattern, this extra time is important. It goes way beyond just building a hitlist and lets you start to see what certain bucks might do on any given day. Of course, five or six extra weeks of trail camera recon is just the start. You also need to think about where you’re placing your cameras and why.
Destination Versus the Source Summer trail camera strategies rely heavily on destination food sources. After all, who doesn’t want to capture images of a bachelor group pouring into the alfalfa every evening? This is important intel, but it’s also the lowest-hanging fruit. Of course bucks are going to make the afternoon trek to the alfalfa or the soybeans or your food plot.
What’s more important is how they make that trek. What trails do they take to get there? Where do they start? The more you can cater your trail camera strategy to answering those questions, the more reliable of a pattern you’ll build. This takes time.
What I like to do with early summer trail cameras is to look at them like I look at my early season hunting strategy. I want setups on the obvious stuff but also in the areas where most other hunters might not sit until October or later.
Hang that camera on the food, but also try to reverse engineer their travel to the food. This will help you dial into staging and bedding areas, and help generally answer the most important questions you can ask about a specific buck’s behavior.
Time to Get Things WrongOne of the main reasons we love to hang summertime cams on food sources is that it’s so easy to get it right. You’re going to get the pictures you want. A camera 200 yards off of the food on a lone trail might not be as exciting and might prove to be a real dud. That’s not something that is without value, however.
The recon you gather on how the bucks get to the food, where they cross the fence or the stream now, and what conditions favor specific travel (like wind direction) is easily as valuable as confirming that bucks do like to browse in the soybeans all summer long. Instead of just confirming what you know, use the time you have now to answer the questions that will help you kill bucks.
That will involve some disappointing card pulls and more questions than answers. Over time, you’ll start to get things nailed down though, and you’ll be able to start building a hunting plan off of that intel. This is so much easier to do with a few months to work with, as opposed to a few weeks.
While turkey season just ended and the fishing is heating up, there is a good reason to get into the bug-filled woods now—time. Get a couple cameras out, let them soak for a few weeks, and then start to fine-tune your digital recon. By mid-summer, you’ll be far ahead of your competition, and the bucks.
For more deer hunting info, check out these articles: How The Newest Generation Of Whitetails Survives, What Whitetails Can Teach You About Hunting Ethics, and What Deadheads Teach Whitetail Hunters About Buck Behavior.
Manicured food plots and tractor work still have their place in the deer hunting community. But clear-cuts are a mecca for concentrated deer populations in the big woods. These areas can be the strategic hunting locations you've been searching for.
Clear-cuts can accommodate any hunting style, whether you prefer firearms or archery tackle, ambush hunting, or spot-and-stalk. Scouting a cut may seem daunting, especially if it's large, but you can find the right spot with the right approach.
The BuzzEveryone who talks about big woods or public land hunting knows forest management is crucial. So, what is the benefit of hunting a cut?
After a logging operation has “clear-cut” the trees away, that area then naturally transforms into a food plot. While a ten-acre clover plot on public land might seem appealing, it isn't very helpful to wildlife or the hunter. Pound-for-pound, a clear-cut provides more food on big chunks of the public than any other food source. Deer are fast learners. If they don't devour that little clover plot overnight, they won't stick around when hunting pressure kicks in. This is where a clear-cut shines, offering a concentrated food source connected to dense cover that keeps deer hanging around.
After five to seven years, a cut will have enough food and cover to keep deer in and around it, even if there is heavy hunting pressure. The advantage a cut has over any other food plot is that there will be food through all phases of the season. As one food source fades, another will take its place. In the summer, there may be a berry crop. Next, white oak trees will start dropping acorns. After that, there will be green briar, woody browse, and maybe even grass that will tolerate cold weather.
See the progression? Understanding food sources at their peak will help you know when and where to concentrate your efforts.
Find the WaterTony Peterson has taught me a thing or two about scouting for the right source. If you scout hard enough, you'll eventually find water sources inside a cut. Creeks are great because they make a hard edge if they run through the middle of a cut. At a crossing point, you can set up for a wide-open shot. Crossings are also the perfect place for a trail camera set.
While creeks are fantastic whitetail magnets, hidden waterholes are where the magic truly happens. When locked down in a thick cut or on the move, every deer knows where to go for a quick drink. Spring-fed holes will be consistent, but keep an eye on the weather. After rain, old tire ruts or bowls made by felled trees fill with water. Deer know this; if the food is nearby by that freshened water, you better be ready for a shot.
Funnels and Pinch PointsA hunter can expect defined deer movement around a clear-cut. They are full of funnels and pinches that are just right for hunting with any weapon. It is common to find a deer trail around the entire border of a clear-cut, and junctions where another trail enters and exits can provide a great stand location for hunters with rifles or bows. Adding a scrape at such sites can make them an ideal spot for a mid to late-October hunt. However, you need to be mindful because these spots are easy to find, and there will be pressure from other hunters. Hunting on a weekday is a great way to avoid that pressure.
During logging operations, trucks driving over the same areas create a network of roads. In time, the area around the truck lanes will fill in with new growth. Use these roads for access deep into a cut while they remain clear. Hunt from the ground if an opening in cover allows. Uncut trees usually provide openings around them large enough to provide opportunities for a shot.
Pre-scouting Goes a Long WayMy first public land deer was one I pulled out of a clear-cut. I'll always remember the 10-point buck's frame twisting through thick saplings to drink from the waterhole below my perch. Like most whitetail hunters, I wrestled with where I wanted to sit the night before the hunt. Because of the scouting efforts I'd made a few months before the season, I decided to sit a waterhole on the interior of the cut.
My other option was to sit on the outside edge of the cut on intersecting trails. I was unsure of that plan because the spot was experiencing some hunting pressure. I had high hopes when I opted to sit above the waterhole.
I knew bucks were starting to seek does in heat and that their coats were thick. It was warm for October, so I knew they'd have to find water. I loved every minute of that hunt, including the heart-thumping meeting when a bear considered climbing into my tree.
You'll never regret knowing a spot well enough to make decisions that buy you encounters. E-scouting is a great tool, and onX is the best tool for the job. Clear-cuts stand out like a sore thumb on satellite images, and onX has made it even easier by allowing you to turn on the timber cut layer. With this layer, you'll see reported cuts and the year they were created.
Be aware of new cuts that have yet to appear in a report, though. Before you head to the closest piece of timber, use the recent imagery toggle to look at fresh maps. They may reveal the recently finished cut that hasn't shown up on the base map. You may even be able to see the progression of a cut and what it looks like with foliage around its edges.
The WrapIf you plan your hunting strategy carefully, finding a clear-cut large enough could be the perfect spot for your entire whitetail vacation. However, it's important to focus on fundamentals. This includes identifying pinch points, funnels, food sources, and cover. And don't forget to consider wind direction and positioning yourself in a spot where deer are likely to be at the right time. Remember that deer will not be complacent, and successful hunting requires hard work, that good old-fashioned elbow grease.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
Some folks enjoy the journey—the small towns that don’t show up on maps and the dives they hold—more than the location they’re headed. Others just want a one-way flight to their destination. They’re more of a product than a process person.
Hunters tend to fall into these categories, too, though exceptions abound. Do the long treks in the dark, uneventful sits, and countless early mornings make it that much sweeter when you kill a buck? Or could you not care less about how you kill a big buck—just as long as you do (legally, of course)? Do you want the satisfaction that comes with setting and accomplishing goals that challenge you mentally and physically? Or are you just looking for a good time outside of your normal work/life routine?
If you’re not sure which box you check, it’s probably a good idea to consider what exactly you want from deer hunting before the season starts. Otherwise, you’ll hunt for all the wrong reasons and resent it.
The DilemmaOne of the cool things about social media is that it presents us with a ton of hunting content right at our fingertips. This is also one of the worst things about social media.
We see highlight reels from everybody and their brother 24/7. Because most hunting celebrities and influencers create content to earn a living, they have to work and think about it constantly. This can make it seem like we, as consumers of this content, should too.
We watch people spend more days than not in the woods, or we see hunters braving new public lands to locate and kill a mature buck and think this is how it should be. But the truth is, it’s just one way of hunting, and it doesn’t apply to everyone’s situation.
You don’t have to “Suffer” to HuntIf you’re a person who enjoys type-2 fun, you probably have zero desire to go on a guided hunt, even if it means you’d kill the biggest buck of your life. Others might see this as well worth the steep price it commands and enjoy every minute of it. Even if you can’t afford such a venture, joining a hunting club with preset stands and blinds overlooking a food plot might sound more appealing to you.
Some people want to work for their hunts. Others want to escape from work. A lot of people don’t care about killing big bucks. Maybe you just want to fill the freezer and enjoy the camaraderie of deer camp. All of these are great reasons to hunt. Yet, hunters have created this misconception that if you’re not suffering, you’re not hunting.
You have to sweat, cover several miles, and bare-knuckle your way to a punched tag. It’s a rite of passage and the only way to earn your hunting stripes. At least, that seems to be the message we’re communicating.
As rough-and-tough this style of hunting seems, we’re quick to spend thousands of dollars on hunting gear to keep comfortable while we’re braving the wild. Camo that basically regulates our body temps, hand warmers, tree saddles that contour just right to our butts, and bows with enough let off to pamper our fragile shoulders when it’s time to kill an animal are just a few examples. When you get down to it, it’s not so different from your neighbor who’s sitting in his shooting house with a magnum rifle. Only he probably still has some room left in his hunting budget.
Mobile or Bust?The current mobile hunting trend tells you to hike further and climb higher on the deepest piece of public you can find. But that doesn’t mean you have to.
I have plenty of family members and friends who hunt from shooting houses, pre-hung stands, and over bait (where legal). They’ve never saddled up or walked more than a few hundred yards to their setups. They enjoy buddy heaters, throwing their kill in a side-by-side, and shooting houses so swanky they could double as an Airbnb. Not only have they killed plenty of big bucks, they’ve had a blast doing it. For them, there’s no difference between killing a mature buck over a pile of corn and killing one two miles deep in the national forest just as long as they do. In fact, they would probably hate the latter after the drag-out.
If you have a similar sentiment, there’s no reason to put yourself through the wringer just to please an imaginary crowd. It’s one thing if you’ve grown bored with this style of hunting and want a challenge or if you’re struggling to kill the type of deer you want to hunt. But, if you’re happy to keep hunting the same way, by all means, proceed.
Sure, hunting from a tree saddle looks cool and sounds even cooler in theory, but it’s a lot of work (and money). If you dread the thought of hanging and tearing a set every time you go to the woods, debating where to set up, or spending a few extra hours on the walkout, don’t buy into the mobile hunting trend. The fact is, mobile hunting isn’t for everyone. If hunting from ladder stands and box blinds keeps your ticker going, there’s no need to change.
Whether you’re interested in the whole process that leads to a successful hunt or just the end result, both types of hunters would benefit from understanding that not everyone wants, or needs, the same thing from hunting. Figure out which lane you’re in, and run your race.
Feature image via Captured Creative.
A week ago, a buddy of mine sent me a picture of twin fawns lying on the forest floor. While scouring the woods for morels, he stumbled onto the pair. They couldn’t have been more than a few days old.
These encounters are happening all over the whitetail’s range right now. If you’re lucky enough to walk up on a newborn, it might seem like it would be impossible for enough of them to survive the first few weeks of their lives to the point where we have viable populations to hunt.
Many do survive, however, and the first advantage they have is one of numbers.
Predator SwampingIf you were to take a walk in my backyard right now, you’d notice a hell of a lot of baby frogs on the edge of our pond. Once the tadpoles lose their tails and crawl from the water, there is a window where the amphibian numbers are amazing. This is no accident.
It’s an evolutionary trait that developed to swamp predator numbers. The more prey that saturates the landscape at one time, the less likely any one individual is to get munched on. Regionally, whitetails rely on the same method. This is why an uninterrupted rut will occur in a fast and furious manner, where most of the does will be bred within a short window of time.
The more fawns born in the same couple of weeks, the less likely it is that a disproportionate amount will end up in the gullets of predators. This is also why a trickle rut is bad for deer numbers. The longer it’s drawn out, the less saturation occurs in the spring.
Fawns don’t rely solely on strength in numbers to survive to their first birthday. They also inherently understand the benefits of laying low.
Good Hiding Spots One of the most predator-dense areas I hunt is northern Wisconsin. We have the big four—wolves, coyotes, bears, and bobcats. We also see older does, year after year, raising fawns near cabins and roads. The best fawning grounds over there seem to be the areas closest to human activity, which might simply be due to predators’ reluctance to get too close to man.
There’s an advantage there, but a bigger cross-species advantage is the gene-deep bend toward laying low. Contrary to popular belief, fawns aren’t scent-free. They are just small and unwilling (and unable) to move a whole lot. The more they hide in the tall grass, the less scent they leave around. Black bears are pretty good at finding them anyway, but generally, this strategy allows them to grow into their legs and other survival traits before they start to trail mom around through the woods and fields.
Their custom paint job aids in the hiding process as well. The stippled coats of fawns work amazingly well at blending into the forest floor, especially a forest floor that is dappled in sunlight (which you often see in the late spring and early summer).
Three Weeks To Freedom If you were to start watching a rerun of Friends the moment a fawn hit the ground, that little deer would be able to stand up on wobbly legs about the time the credits rolled. A couple hours later, that same fawn can walk around some. Less than a month after that, it can run fast enough in short bursts to leave most predators behind.
This ability to run and cover ground coincides with a change in their diets. At first, their sole source of nutrition is their mother’s milk. This stage lasts a few weeks before they start adding in natural foliage. They will still nurse for quite a few more weeks, but they don’t count on just mom for their daily calories.
By the time they can really run, they are far less likely to end up clenched between the jaws of something big and toothy. In fact, at this point in many regions, the biggest threats they face are all human-related. Hunters are a big one, naturally, but so are vehicles.
It’s not an easy go for young deer, or any deer in most places, but the threat of being helpless and unable to escape predation is mostly concentrated in a small amount of time right after they’re born.
They learn the ways of the woods early and excel at surviving almost out of the gate. That might not even seem possible if you stumble across a fawn curled up in the CRP while you’re out hanging trail cameras, but it’s true.
And honestly, it’s pretty incredible.
For more information on deer hunting, check out these articles: What Whitetails Can Teach You About Hunting Ethics, Why the Ghost of Predators Past Make the Modern Whitetail So Difficult to Hunt, and What Deadheads Teach Whitetail Hunters About Buck Behavior.
Long before the first rays from the October sunrise slanted their way through the forest, I knew there were turkeys roosted all around me. That was exciting, because in addition to a couple of deer tags, I had a fall turkey license in my wallet.
It wasn’t too deep into legal shooting light before I realized I had a problem. With a whole flock roosted in the surrounding trees, getting away with any type of movement was going to be tricky.
As soon as the first couple of birds pitched down, I got ready to draw. Through a chorus of clucks and kee kees, I managed to pick out a hen and shoot right over her back. Another followed her down the trail, and I whiffed again. The third time I shot, I’m not even sure I had my eyes open. I was in full panic mode, with a heavy case of turkey fever.
With two arrows left in my quiver, I watched the flock feed away and almost immediately noticed a deer heading my way. When the little button buck got to 17 yards, I shot him square in the guts. He ended up hopping a few steps and bedding down. With my last arrow, I hit him too far back again. He took off, and I climbed down to go meet up with my dad.
It was a classic emotional roller coaster. I’d shot horribly, but I knew that I was about to tag my second deer. What I didn’t know was that when we walked up on him, he’d still be alive. It was the first time I had to cut a deer’s throat, and it made that long-lost teenage version of myself want to do better.
Let The Bad Feelings Speak That debacle of a morning happened a couple of decades ago, but I remember it well. It was the first step on a long journey to try to be as good of a shot as I can be. As you probably well know, it’s an admirable goal. It’s also a quest that never really ends.
Hitting and losing a deer sucks, a lot. But we are generally sheltered from the suffering that the experience causes. We see it from our perspective, which is the hope of taking a shot, followed by the crushing reality that another one has slipped through our fingers. It’s a different experience when you find one still alive.
Unless you’re a Patrick Bateman-level psycho, that should leave a mark. No one wants to walk up on a struggling deer to finish it off, but it happens. When it does, it’s probably not going to make you feel great about yourself. The bad feelings plead an interesting case, and you should listen. It’s a good reminder to take the shooting and shot selection parts of what we do very seriously.
There Are No Gray Areas, PersonallyThe question of ethics comes up all of the time. It’s the old, what do you do when no one is watching, quandary. The thing is, we know what makes us feel good about ourselves, just as we know what makes us feel shitty.
Take an encounter a buddy of mine had on a hunt several years ago in South Dakota. I was tagged out and scouting while he went in to hang a stand on a walk-in ranch. We had dealt with nonstop rain for the whole trip, and it was forecasted to get worse.
This meant that legal shooting hours extended deep into the twilight. It also meant that blood trailing would be extra challenging due to the impending storms.
As the light faded, a pair of young bucks posed up for him. He shot, and although he didn’t do anything legally wrong, ethically, it wasn’t much of a gray area. And he knew it.
We never found that deer, although I’m certain it died. I’m also certain that that was the last time my buddy would push it in a low-light situation while sitting in the drizzling rain. On paper, that sounds like a no-brainer situation, but it’s not so simple.
When you factor in having a few days out-of-state, the cost of the license, and the trip overall, it’s easier to understand taking a shot when you know you probably shouldn’t. If you haven’t done that yet, keep hunting. You’ll get there.
What these poor decisions do for us is set our moral hunting compass. While ethics is an entire category rooted in gray areas, personally, it doesn’t have to be. You know what decisions make you feel like you did the right thing.
Choices, Choices, Choices You don’t have to make a bad shot on a buck or take a greedy shot in terrible conditions to mold your ethics in the right direction. As hunters, we should always examine our choices. Some hunters would use every legal technological advantage they could get their hands on, while experiencing zero qualms.
Others just might not feel right about embracing using a crossbow that is rifle-accurate at 100 yards, or a camera that sends instant images to their phone, or waiting over a pile of corn for a hungry buck. Many of the legal methods of hunting, and much of the legal equipment, might cross a certain line.
In this realm, sometimes you just know that certain things aren’t for you. With others, you might have to try them out to know for sure. Either way, what happens during your hunts and how you feel about them, informs your future self. Listen to what that person says because he’s leading you along a better path as a hunter.
For more deer hunting info, check out these articles: How to Identify the Core Areas of Mature Bucks, What Deadheads Teach Whitetail Hunters About Buck Behavior, and Hunting One Target Buck Can Ruin Your Whole Whitetail Season.
Christopher “CJ” Alexander, whose name graced headlines in December after photos of him posing with an 18-point buck he harvested drew skepticism, has officially been indicted on 23 total charges, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, on behalf of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, announced today.
Three others, including Alexander’s sister Kristina M. Alexander, and brothers Corey P. Haunert and Zachary R. Haunert, also face charges.
The indictment, returned this afternoon by a Clinton County grand jury, accuses Alexander, 28, of Wilmington, of unlawfully harvesting the deer on Nov. 9, 2023. He claimed that the animal had been on property owned by his sister. When he harvested the deer he presented written permission from his sister to hunt on her land to a wildlife officer. However, an investigation by authorities from Ohio DNR’s Division of Wildlife, turned up evidence that indicated otherwise.
“Blinded by greed, the defendants set their sights on fame and fortune while disregarding basic hunting regulations,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said. “Instead of the cover of Field & Stream, their notoriety will be a booking photo.”
Warranted searches of cellphone data indicated that Alexander had illegally hunted the trophy buck, which some reports rank as the third largest typical whitetail ever killed in North America, on private property about 10 miles from where he claimed to have killed it. Additionally, Alexander is accused of lying about the date when the deer was killed and falsifying the written permission from his sister after the fact.
The attorney’s report alleges that the whitetail was staged at the property of Alexander’s sister with the help of the Haunert brothers to conceal the poaching.
According to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Corey Haunert aided Alexander in poaching deer on multiple occasions, providing the crossbow used to hunt and assisting in deer retrieval and staging with Zachary Haunert.
Alexander is also accused of deceptively profiting from the poaching by selling deer antlers and receiving payments totaling $20,000 from an antler collector, a hunting magazine, and a company that sells deer products.
“This once-in-a-lifetime deer embodies the great natural resources Ohio has to offer,” Yost added. “It is shameful that this deer ended up in an evidence room rather than adorning an ethical hunter’s wall as a prized trophy.”
Alexander faces five counts each of illegally hunting deer without written permission and taking possession of a deer in violation of a division rule, three counts of theft by deception, two counts each of hunting without a license, hunting deer without a valid deer permit, and tampering with evidence, and one count each of jacklighting, theft, falsification, and sale of wildlife parts.
Corey Haunert, 29, faces eight charges, including four counts of aiding a wildlife offender, two counts of hunting without written permission, one count each of tampering with evidence, and falsification.
Zachary Haunert, 31, faces two misdemeanor counts of aiding a wildlife offender. Kristina Alexander, 37, faces one count of falsification and one count of aiding a wildlife offender.
Feature image via The Sportsmen Party Facebook Page.
Hunters tend to view deer as we think of them now, which is understandable. It’s also a mostly distilled and distorted look at the most popular game animal. We can’t really help it since we live about 75 years, and have a hard time comprehending time scales much longer than that.
We aren’t comfortable with big numbers, and our brains aren’t great at understanding them. The distances between objects in the universe don’t make sense to us. We speak of light years as we would earth-based distances, but a single light year is six trillion miles. We talk of the dinosaurs with passing interest but can scarcely fathom giant reptiles ruling the earth 100 million years ago.
When it comes to deer, we generally don’t even acknowledge their origin story. This is something I dug pretty deep into while researching a book several years ago. It’s a good reminder that if you want to be a better hunter, you should try to understand where deer came from.
The Reigning ChampInformation about any event that happened deep into the past will be explained through a wide range of dates because it’s hard to pinpoint specifics. Whitetails, or the precursors to our modern whitetails, hit the scene a long time ago. Fossils, some of which were found in Florida, tell a story of somewhere between two and five million years ago when the first chapter of the whitetail’s book was written.
Think about that for a second. Imagine the predators that deer had to deal with over the course of millions of years. We think of deer as adaptable because they can live in cities or in the mountains. They thrive in extremely cold climates as easily as equatorial regions where cacti dominate. All of this is evidence of a truly adaptable critter, but it doesn’t factor in the list of predators they’ve gone up against over the years.
The hot topic in this category today is the gray wolf. A formidable predator, no doubt. Not that you could survey them, but I bet modern deer would choose packs of wolves over some of the toothy critters their ancestors had to avoid.
Giant bear and lion species, for example. Members from each could easily dwarf the largest specimens found today throughout the world. North America had its own version of the cheetah as well, a cat that also shaped the evolutionary history of the pronghorn. Deer dodged saber-toothed tigers and jaguars, as well.
Perhaps this feels like I’m selectively showcasing the survival narrative of my favorite game animal, but the truth is there were a hell of a lot of herbivores through the years that went up against these apex predators. A few still exist, but most of them are lost to the history of Earth. Predators don’t deserve all of the credit for wiping out various species of herbivores because they often had help from a changing climate and natural disasters.
The big and toothy precursors to today’s predator certainly didn’t go lightly on the whitetail, however, and yet we still have them to hunt. This can’t be said about many of the animals that were on the menu next to the whitetail, and that says something that modern hunters should listen to.
Why We Love Dumb DeerWhen we discuss difficult-to-hunt deer, we tend to focus on how much pressure they receive. I do this a lot because I’ve spent tons of time on public land and enough time on highly managed private ground to know the difference. But it’s not so simple.
Epigenetics, the study of heritable traits that occur without a change to DNA sequence, can alter the course of a species' existence and influence evolution. Those heritable traits, like looking up in the trees for danger after 30 or 40 generations of deer that have dealt with death from above, make it more difficult to be a treestand hunter.
We attribute that type of characteristic to smart deer. The ones that don’t look up, well, they are dumb. Just like the deer that are babysat on a privately managed property until they are deemed old enough to shoot, don’t exactly scream high IQ.
These are easy-to-understand examples, but what about the deer bloodlines where avoiding the American Lion was the difference between life and death? We can scarcely fathom how that threat would carve a new pathway through the species’ DNA. We might never know, but that doesn’t mean that echoes of those past predators don’t still shape the behavior of the deer we hunt today.
How They Understand UsWe all know that the deer pattern us, but do we really? If we acknowledge that but walk the same paths to the same stands over and over, we aren’t giving the whitetail its due. This is true of all deer but becomes something else with older bucks (and does).
Whitetails have an understanding of where we enter the woods, where we are most likely to sit in ambush, and where we are most likely to sneak around when we are trying to find them. They learn this by seeing us, hearing us, and most importantly, smelling us.
They know when we are most likely to be in the woods with them and the seasonal timing and weather conditions that are most likely to keep us away. They seem to learn, as well, the difference between a harmless hiker and a hunter.
This is why successful hunters tend to follow one of two paths. The first is the land manager path, where creating dumber deer is the goal. If you can nullify the survival instincts built through millennia of avoiding predators, you win. The second is the mobile hunter path, where a combination of obsessive scouting and surprise sits often produces much better than average results.
If you can’t do the former, you might want to consider the latter. This might be the only way to consistently beat pressured whitetails at their own game. After all, you are competing against not only your neighbor’s hunting party but also packs of dire wolves that lived 100,000 years ago.
To best just such a prey animal, it’s a good idea to acknowledge how well they’ve done thus far against some pretty stiff competition. Competition that didn’t need to follow game laws, could see as well at night as in the day, and that possessed olfactory senses on par with their prey. Compared to them, we are terrible at this stuff, and it often shows in our successes—and our failures.
For more information on whitetail hunting, check out these articles: Hunting One Target Buck Can Ruin Your Whole Season, The Whitetail Misses That Sting The Most, and How To Identify The Core Areas Of Mature Bucks.
I hate talking about the first time I experimented with a tree saddle. It reminds me that I'm not exactly young anymore.
The first time I dove into the world of saddle hunting was when reading John Eberhart's book Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails. The classic was the first mention of a hunting saddle I'd seen, and the book was released in 2003. For those who didn't major in math, that's more than two decades ago.
At the time, saddle options were limited, and there weren’t brands dedicated to producing saddle-hunting accessories. Still, it was fun to experiment, and I could see where a saddle would offer some advantages. Ultimately, I decided the saddle game wasn't worth the sore hips and weird shooting angles.
Fast-forward twenty-plus years, and today, we're in the midst of a certified saddle-hunting explosion that has all the cool kids and influencers unable to utter a sentence without first asking, “Do you even saddle, bruh?”
I own a few saddles and will spend a fair amount of time hunting from them this fall. That said, they are a tool and, in my opinion, one that's inferior to a lock-on stand in many (if not most) situations. I realize there are plenty who will disagree, and that's fine. But I'm pretty set on the statement. A tree saddle, while useful, can never fully replace a lock-on stand setup. Here's why.
ComfortYes, I have heard the claims and seen the YouTube testimonials. And the fact is, a tree saddle is super comfortable. And then gravity takes over. No matter how great your saddle fits or how many gallons of pre-workout you pound before blowing up at the local gym, you can not defy the effects of gravity. Hanging from a saddle will take its toll on your body. I feel it in my hips, my back, and my legs. To combat this, I spend more time standing on my platform to relieve the fatigue and pressure.
None of this happens when using a solid, moderately sized lock-on stand. Yes, when spending multiple hours in one of the uber-light (and uber-tiny) stands, I'll get a sore butt, an aching back and a touch of claustrophobia. But when using a stand with a larger platform, it's much easier for me to stay on the stand most of the day.
The bottom line is that a lock-on stand provides comfort for a longer period of time.
VersatilityOne of the primary selling points of a saddle is its ability to be used in a variety of trees. I won't deny this versatility. You can deploy a saddle in a wide array of trees, including those that lean heavily.
But here’s the thing: While you can technically utilize a saddle in those trees, actually hunting or shooting from can be big-time problematic. Again, gravity comes into play. When using a saddle in a tree with a heavy lean, I’ve found it exceptionally hard to set up in a way that doesn't have me face-planting into the trunk of the tree any time I try to maneuver, or swing around the opposite side of the tree because of the pull of gravity.
While lock-on stands are limited to trees with moderate leans or less, stands with adjustable bases will work well in all but the heaviest-leaning trees.
Saddles can also be tough to use in trees with multiple limbs as the tethers and ropes tend to be hampered by those limbs. Again, multi-limbed trees aren’t much of a problem for a lock-on stand.
To be fair, there are certain trees on which a saddle can be used that would give a lock-on stand trouble, and trees with smaller-than-ideal trunks are one such instance. But overall, I’ve had fewer issues selecting a suitable tree when using a lock-on stand than when using a saddle.
Shot OptionsAnother primary talking point of a saddle is the ability to shoot at virtually any angle from the tree. This is, technically, true. In reality, some shots are pretty darned tough to pull off. In fact, shots on your offhand side are tricky, requiring you to spin around on a tiny platform and use your tether to lock yourself against the tree trunk. That shot option would be stupidly easy to pull off from a lock-on stand.
I'm not saying shooting from a saddle is always difficult. It isn’t. Strong-side shots are a breeze, and shooting behind the tree is far easier than doing so on a saddle or a lock-on stand in most instances.
But I will say this: I have missed out on close-range shot opportunities from a saddle simply because I couldn’t get my body positioned in a manner that would allow me to draw my bow. That has never happened in a lock-on stand.
SimplicityThis point (like this entire piece) is a point of personal preference formed from experience.
To me, deploying a lock-on stand is just easier than dealing with a saddle. I'm not saying there's a huge difference between the two, and I will be honest and admit that if I were to spend more time using a saddle, the familiarity factor would be reduced. But I can get a set of climbing sticks in place, a lock-on stand secured to the tree, and ready to hunt in a hurry.
My saddle setups don't take much more time, but there is almost always a bit more of a fiddle factor in getting things set just right, which I don't encounter when using a lock-on stand.
Overall, my preference is to grab a solid set of climbing sticks and a lock-on stand. I'll certainly keep the saddle in my arsenal. It's a handy tool that I wouldn't want to go without, but, for this bowhunter, a saddle simply isn't a complete replacement for a lock-on stand, and likely never will be.
There are two times in my life when I expect to find deadheads. Shed hunting is the first, which should come as no surprise to anyone who has dedicated some time to scooping up antlers in the winter and spring.
The second is while trout fishing. I don’t know how many times I’ve been slipping along the bank of some stream tucked deep into a valley when I’ve noticed a rack poking up out of the grass. The biggest was a 182-inch typical. That deadhead made news through the local deer scene and ended up with me eventually giving it to the kid who had shoulder-shot the buck the previous season.
Deadheads can teach you a lot about hunters and the deer they don’t recover, but they can also teach you a lot about whitetail behavior.
Wounded Whitetails & WaterIt’s no secret that some wounded deer head to water. Blood loss is essentially water loss, and that needs to be replaced. If you happen to gut shoot a buck or hit one really anywhere that doesn’t turn out the lights quickly, a safe bet is that he’ll head toward water.
This is a general rule, of course. Wounded deer will go straight away from the only water source in the section, just as they’ll go uphill when they are only supposed to travel downhill. If you’re actively blood trailing, it pays to remember the general rules we all believe. It’s also a good idea to set them on the back burner and focus hard on spoor.
The link to spring deadheads here is that a lot of wounded deer do travel to water, but it’s probably not solely because they want to rehydrate. Water, whether you’re talking a stream, river or smallish pond, often features the kind of micro-habitat that deer prefer. The undergrowth is often thicker than the surrounding cover, which offers security. In the case of rivers and streams, they tend to be low, which allows deer to travel downhill to get there. Plus, while healthy bucks will cross water without thinking about it, some waterways serve as natural barriers to travel when it comes to mortally wounded bucks.
Wounded deer go where they go for a reason. The places you’re most likely to stumble across a deadhead are the same places you’re often likely to arrow a buck in the fall. Wounded deer travel to those spots for the same reasons healthy deer do, which provides insight into general buck behavior.
Deadheads & CottontailsI used to rabbit hunt a lot, once the archery season in my home state of Minnesota started to die down in December. What I realized while pushing brush piles and overgrown homesteads for bunnies was that I found a lot of deadheads in rabbit-friendly spots.
This seems obvious on paper. Cottontails like thick stuff, and they are edge critters. Deer like thick stuff, and they are edge critters as well. The overlap between the species is big. It’s also true that rabbits don’t require a lot of space to live out their lives, and the areas they do so are often the areas hunters avoid.
Wounded deer know this, and they often crawl into the thorny morass that rabbits love, and then they expire. What does this mean to hunters? Well, the old buck that caught a slug in the guts and crawled into a hellhole to die didn’t do it randomly.
He probably used that area to stay safe dozens of times in his life. Where he went to die is probably the place he felt would offer him the best chance of survival. That’s a big clue into deer behavior.
Deadhead DramaMost hunters look at a big buck skull out in the woods as a lucky find that belongs in their man cave or she shed. The catch here is that to be legal in quite a few states, you need a possession tag for it. You might pick up 100 deadheads a year and not get into trouble for it, but if, for some reason, you do get a visit from a Conservation Officer, they’ll take professional notice of your collection.
If you’re interested in a deadhead for more than what it can teach you about big-buck behavior, that’s fine. Just make sure you know what you’re doing if you pick it up and decide to take it home. This seems like an innocent move, but it can put you on the wrong side of the law. Take a look at your local regulations before you head out to catch a few brookies or try to cross paths with a cruising longbeard so you know how to proceed if you walk up on a bleached skull that’s complete with last season’s headgear.
For more deer hunting information, check these articles out: Who Really Hunts The Hardest-To-Kill Whitetails?, The Whitetail Misses That Sting The Most, and Why You Might Want To Forget About Mature Bucks And Just Hunt.
Within the next couple months bucks will start growing their new antlers. By mid-summer, social media feeds will fill up with trail camera images of velvet-antlered hitlisters. Quite a few of these deer will be given names if they don’t have one already.
This will happen with hunters ranging from celebrity power couples to random dudes scattered across the country who spend their whole season on grandma’s 40 acres. The one-buck hunt is all the rage right now, which is great for some people.
The challenge of letting one go for a few years before targeting him is something that a lot of whitetail junkies love. It’s also a hunting style that presents a nearly impossible task for others. If you’re interested in hunting this way, figuring out how well it’ll work in your world is important.
Just as important as figuring out whether you actually care to hunt this way at all.
A Lot Of DisappointmentEight years ago, a buddy and I glassed up an extremely tall 10-pointer as it munched away in a summertime beanfield. After hanging some cameras in the area, I started to realize the buck was spending a lot of time on a farm I had permission to hunt. I got obsessed.
The buck was all of 160 inches and framed up like a mule deer. He was also really good at not walking past me in daylight. I hunted him as meticulously as I could and never laid eyes on him, even though my cameras showed that he was hanging out right under my nose.
It got to the point where every deer I saw coming down the trail was a disappointment, and I didn’t like it. As the Minnesota gun season loomed closer, I started to back off of that deer to just hunt, and ended up on another part of the farm one late October morning.
Not long into the sit, a doe trotted by. I then heard a buck roar twice, which had never happened before, nor has it happened since. The deer, a main-frame eight with split brows, charged past my stand and made the mistake of stopping when I mrrped him. It was one of the coolest hunts I’ve ever had, but also tainted by a little disappointment. The buck I shot was a good one, no doubt. But he wasn’t the one I had been thinking about all summer and fall.
Not For EveryoneIt’s hard for people who have a decent spot to hunt to realize sometimes how good they really have it. In so many places, passing up a buck in hopes that he’ll make it another season or three is a lost cause. Hunting pressure, predation, nasty winters, EHD, and a host of other factors can conspire to keep deer from getting old on private land. On public land, it’s often worse.
You might want to find a target buck, babysit him for a few years, and then set your sights on him when he’s mature. You might also never, ever get a chance to do that. In that case, the best you can do is try to find the biggest buck in the neighborhood on any given season, and focus on him. Or, you can forget about one-buck hunts and embrace the mystery.
Something Antlered This Way ComesI’m old enough to remember hunting in the pre-trail-camera days. There were plenty of question marks in the pursuit back then, and it’s something that I love about hunting. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons I like to travel to random states to hunt public land.
Having no history with a spot and no trail camera images to persuade me to hunt one way or another is freeing. It’s fun not to know who is going to come down the trail and to decide, in the moment, whether a deer is worthy of my tag or not.
This might be how you are wired, too. A great way to find out is to dive deep into the one-buck-hunt world. I did, and more than just with that big Minnesota 10-pointer. I found out that my spots aren’t great for it, and that I don’t really like that style. Your mileage might vary, of course.
That’s the great thing about this stuff, and it’s something to consider in the off-season as you’re planning on getting a few cameras out or maybe thinking about taking an over-the-road trip this fall. Should you find a target buck and laser in on him, or play it fast and loose and let the deer gods decide your fate?
Try both, figure it out. Then, lean into whatever works for you so you can get the most out of your season.
For more deer hunting information, check out these articles: Who Really Hunts The Hardest To Kill Whitetails?, The Whitetail Misses That Sting The Most, and Lost Your Hunting Access? No Need To Panic.
I’m all too familiar with frustrating trail camera experiences. Ending up with poor-quality images or no pictures at all feels like a waste of time. If you're new to using trail cameras, you can avoid this mistake and learn from my experience.
You could be happy just to know there are deer in the area. Or you may be frustrated with camera performance and want to learn more about capturing usable trail cam pictures. However, a blurry image of a deer will not help narrow your efforts of getting a whitetail inside bow range.
Running cameras teaches a few lessons. Most importantly, it teaches you to recognize that trail cameras aren't a replacement for poor scouting. They are a tool. When used correctly, they can enhance your scouting and make you more successful.
Hung too HighA high camera hang is a popular tactic for setting trail cams on public land. It avoids detection by deer and discourages theft. But, if you plan to hang your camera too high, you might as well leave it in your backpack. Camera sensors miss much of what happens below them with a steep angle, which means there will be fewer pictures than there would be with a lower camera placement.
If you insist on hanging your camera high, hang it downhill from the targeted zone. This way, the camera will maintain a better window to capture movement. Deer will be unable to detect the camera, thieves will still have to climb to steal it, and the images on the card will be what you're hoping for.
I prefer a height of around six feet. You may lose a few cameras to scumbags that have nothing better to do, but you will avoid detection by deer. Side note: if a thief is determined to steal a camera, they will steal it, regardless of whether it's ten feet up in a tree or not.
Over ExposureOverexposure kills great photos. Maybe you pointed a camera east, straight down a tractor lane or powerline cut. A big-bodied deer walked in front of your camera right after the sun rose, but when you pulled the camera, all you could see were deer legs and a glare. Annoying, right?
Field edges and "wildlife openings" can be great setups for trail cam photos. A barrier to sunlight or pointing the camera away from the rising or setting sun is a better way to correct exposure. An example of a barrier would be to point a camera across the corner of a field at the adjacent woodline. A backdrop like that will help clear up your images.
Incorrect BackgroundNight photos come out best with a good background. This helps the trail cam flash to better illuminate the foreground and capture more defined images. It also offers more clarity when trying to identify deer activity. This way, you can easily spot new bucks that appear during the rut without struggling to figure out what you're looking at.
In the past, I believed that taking photos at night held little value, but they can actually be useful in forming a successful hunting strategy. Think about a buck that is mainly nocturnal during early fall. As time passes, his activity shifts towards daylight. If you follow the trend and are one step ahead, it could be what you need to put a buck in your shooting lane.
Bad BatteriesThere's a little Pennsylvania Dutch running in my blood. I don't like to admit it, but sometimes I can be cheap. The cheapness doesn't compare to the rest of my family, but biting the bullet for good batteries is tough to swallow in today's economy.
Lithium batteries are downright expensive. On average, it costs about $27 to buy batteries for a single camera. If you're wondering if lithium batteries are necessary, they are not. However, lithium batteries have benefits. Their output exceeds alkaline batteries, resulting in crisper images. They also have a much longer battery life. One set of lithium batteries could last an entire year, depending on your camera settings (less in video mode).
Alkaline batteries are fine, but you should know a few things before using them in your cameras. They may only last three or four months. If it gets cold enough, freezing can occur and cause the batteries to burst. If batteries are leaking and causing corrosion, you must clean your camera. And if you’re running a high-burst count or in video mode, expect a short battery life.
Unmatched SettingsFly fishermen know how to "match the hatch" better than any other outdoorsmen. Likewise, trail cam users must learn to match their settings to the sign or surroundings. Running photo mode on a scrape with a short delay (ten to fifteen seconds) will fill an SD card quickly. In that case, shooting a ten-second video to capture the action or increase the delay would be better.
Settings are all experimental. As a rule of thumb, lengthen delays for features where a deer will spend more time on, and shorten them for features in areas where deer are moving through.
Not Enough AngleWe discussed hanging height earlier, and I mentioned that six feet is a good height. Even at six feet, you might need to use a shim behind the camera for the optimal angle. Failing to shim the camera will result in pictures showing only the back, ears, and racks. You'll still have some intel but won't have ideal photos.
You can fix this by using a laser pointer or placing your phone over the lens in selfie mode. Be careful with the selfie mode trick because a camera's layout may differ from your phone's. You could also walk in front of the camera and check the photo, which can be cumbersome. For the best and easiest result, use a camera with an onboard screen to direct the aim.
Follow-up FailureFollow-up failure can happen from either direction. Checking cameras too often increases pressure and causes deer to change their behavior. On the other hand, not checking them at all could waste all your efforts.
A camera hung in early summer might have new vegetation blocking the view. It's a real downer to check a camera after a year to find a frame full of tall grass or a downed tree limb. One check could have saved your fall photos.
Other things, like rodents or bears moving your camera, a spider web on the lens, or ants in the camera housing, will ruin your photos. One pre-fall check and a single check during the season are all that's needed. Save in-season checks for when you pass a camera on a hunt.
The Working for Wildlife Tour is back for 2024, and we want you to join us!
If you’re not familiar with the Tour, here’s the deal. The Working for Wildlife Tour launched in 2023 as an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the many volunteer events put on across the country by conservation organizations, bringing hunters and anglers together to volunteer their time to improve wildlife habitat, restore ecosystems, and clean up public lands and waters. Unfortunately, many of these events slip under the radar without the attention or participation they deserve. We wanted to help change that and our solution was to get involved ourselves and invite you to join along.
In collaboration with Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the National Deer Association, and Michigan United Conservation Club, we hosted events last year in Massachusetts, Michigan, Idaho, Missouri, Mississippi, and Kentucky—involving more than 500 volunteers and resulting in more than 2,000 pounds of trash collected off public lands, 18 acres of early successional habitat improved, 80 small game brush piles created, more than a dozen acres of aspen forest restored, 35 acres of wildlife food plots planted, 200 crabapple trees planted, 800 pounds of white oak acorns collected for reforestation efforts, and much more. Now we’re ready to run it back in 2024, and you’re invited to join me.
If I learned anything in 2023, it’s that these events are a damned good time and make a real impact. I can’t wait to meet a bunch of you, answer your questions, hear your stories, and get our hands dirty together doing good work for wildlife. We'll also be giving away "I Work for Wildlife" t-shirts to the first 25 volunteers at each event.
For more details about the three events scheduled so far for this year’s tour and how you can sign up to participate, see the tour schedule and registration links below.
2024 Working for Wildlife Tour EventsDate: May 18, 2024Location: Daniel Boone National Forest (Kentucky)Activity: White oak release, hunter access improvements, boundary workPartner Conservation Organization: National Deer AssociationRegistration Link: Click here
Date: June 1, 2024Location: Allegheny National Forest (Pennsylvania)Activity: Rehabilitating existing wildlife openings, removing and restoring crib-fencing around wildlife plantings and removing and hanging bird nesting and bat boxes, and tree and shrub plantingPartner Conservation Organization: National Deer AssociationRegistration Link: Click here
Date: August 24, 2024Location: Pine Island Wildlife Management Area (Minnesota)Activity: Creating boat access, clearing/improving hunter walking trails, planting trees for white-tailed deer wintering habitat, repairing derelict signage, installing invasive species kioskPartner Conservation Organization: Sportsmen for the Boundary WatersRegistration Link: Click here
Any time spent in the woods is valuable, but let's talk about the target goal of shed antlers. Days filled with work meetings aren't always a lost cause. A few short minutes could be all you need to grab a few antlers this spring.
Shed hunting doesn't always need to take place where you want to hunt. It's beneficial to zero in on areas known for wintering bucks. A little map reading and an evening drive to learn local buck habits will go far. Remember your goal in these places; you don't need to worry about finding a tree to climb. Or whether there is enough deer sign in the area to make it a worthwhile hunt.
Search for pinch points and funnels where you can do a quick scan and move on to the next. Put new hunting spots or planning strategies aside for now. When you only have time to pick up a few pieces of bone, look in these places for some of the most consistent antler finds.
Power Line CutsThree things make power lines an antler gold mine: edges, historical deer trails, and constant new growth. After a brush mower runs through a power line, the ground won't stay bare for long. Briars and weeds will cover the bare ground in a few weeks of warm spring or summer days. The density of cover that a power line cut provides all year is inviting to wintering deer. Even more appealing is that most of it is edible greenery.
Power lines are great for a 15-minute to a 1-hour shed hunt. They are often close enough to a road to allow a quick peek. Antlers are typically found along their edges, but don't skip the bottom! Power lines that run across a valley or draw often have an erosion ditch or creek. Bucks traveling these funnels are prone to dropping antlers.
CreeksA creek is a hotspot for a quick shed hunt. Look for creeks with defined travel borders, crossings, and bedding. Because of the soft ground around a creek, deer trails are more visible. More jostling happens when bucks hop across or crawl up a steep bank at creek crossings. That movement can often be enough to knock a few antlers loose. Bucks also bed along brushy spots where a creek bends. They use the edges as travel funnels from bed-to-bed or bed-to-food locations. The consistent use makes creeks a valuable component for finding shed antlers.
Pay close attention to the muddy trails deer make while crossing the creek. Look over them once and then look again closely. If there is a well-traveled deer trail bordering the creek, it's always worth a walk. An antler trampled into the mud is tough to see. Also, look into the water for antlers that drop in the middle of the creek.
Don't dismiss the creeks beside a local soccer field or rail trail. While they may not be ideal hunting locations, deer are still traveling through them and potentially dropping an antler. And check creeks more than once during the spring. Bucks feel comfortable there, so there’s a good chance of the area reloading with antlers. Scooping a few sheds before your nine-to-five shift is an excellent start to your day.
Buffer StripsBuffer strips usually describe brush or grass strips extending into a crop field, but they can occur anywhere. Examples of other buffer strips include a slim section of a clear cut under the open hardwoods, a brushy corner of a creek (see the creek theme?), or a larger version of a buffer strip like a fence row.
Bucks love these strips because they lengthen their time inside cover while traveling. There is more concealment and security in cover like this, and that cover has the potential to knock some antlers loose. Bucks also stage (become active from a safe position) and bed in buffer strips before exposing themselves to an open area in the dark.
Wrap UpIt might be a municipal park, refuge, or highly traveled trail where hiking is legal. The point is that there are places to go in your spare time to look for shed antlers. It may not be an area where you can hunt, but anything you can do to learn about deer movement and behavior can help you understand them in other areas.
A few more parting tips: check your local quick spots up to four times between the last day of February and mid-April. Keep a spare set of binoculars in your vehicle. You never know when you'll have a minute to glass a field. If you think you've peered into all the cover, look again.
Fail upward? What kind of corporate jargon is that? How could this possibly help me become a better hunter? Hear me out.
Every hunter that I know with at least a dozen seasons under their belt goes through a natural evolution. That evolutionary path is different for everyone because everyone has a slightly different situation and different personal goals. For example, you might come to a fork in the road after having some success here and there, but never consistently filling your tag. You might shoot a nice buck every single year, but there’s a burning desire deep in your gut telling you to challenge yourself to find a bigger one next year.
A more extreme example is a hunter who wants to move on to different experiences, perhaps heading west to become proficient at elk hunting, backpack mule deer hunting, or maybe you’ve taken great interest in furbearers. The journey is different for everyone, the one constant is embracing change and pointing yourself in a new direction to see what new adventures might await.
Set New GoalsIf you’re looking to change the trajectory of your fall, it all starts with defining what you want out of your time afield. That means establishing goals, benchmarks, and strategies to help you get to where you want to be. Without parameters, you’re likely to seek the path of familiarity, which will put you right where you left off last season. Take a minute to define your goals clearly, put dates to those goals, and establish steps one, two, and three.
If your goal is to take your personal best whitetail, you might just have to give up on your old stomping grounds in search of a property that holds more and bigger deer. Maybe your barrier to reaching that goal is purely mental, and you need to make peace with the reality that you may not punch your tag if the right buck doesn’t come through. Perhaps your goal is to travel and take a whitetail somewhere completely foreign, having never stepped foot there before. Whatever goal you’re looking to achieve, identify what is preventing you from success and develop a roadmap to get you there.
Develop New RoutinesWhatever your personal goal may be, know you’re not going to get there overnight. Developing new skill sets and polishing old ones is likely going to be required. For the whitetail guy, looking to find consistent success with a bow, learning how to scout new areas might be the secret ingredient. Learning to be more mobile could also be your missing link. If you’re looking to try your hand at DIY elk hunting, where the mountains are equally as likely to defeat you as the elk, developing a fitness routine may pay more dividends than all other aspects combined.
Sam Davis is an absolute killer and knows a thing or two about crushing goals. When asked what the secret is, Davis claimed: “If I had a secret leading to my success, it would be my never-quit attitude. Not willing to give up until I absolutely have to, has led me to more than one successful hunt. I am always willing to push on.” Davis lives by the motto, “Predators never quit,” and the results speak for themselves.
We all know success doesn’t come overnight and is a cumulation of our preparation and on-the-fly decision-making in the field. “When I think of habits or routines that contribute to my success, I think of consistency. I always say, consistency creates dedication, dedication creates consistency. I shoot regularly, I know my equipment, I work out every day, and I have seven or eight hunt plans, just in case my scouting wasn’t spot on,” Davis said.
Embrace the Struggle & GrowthI asked Sam what kind of advice he had for hunters looking to find consistent success. Davis replied with something I wasn’t expecting, but he’s totally right: “Be the best husband, boyfriend, father, etc. you can be in the offseason. Be a good family man when you are home so you can enjoy your time in the field. Then, you can focus on animal behavior, stalking, thermals, and how to survive out in the hills. Then get out there and buy as many tags as you can and hunt. That’s how you get better at hunting.”
If you’re committed to changing things up this fall, there will undoubtedly be growing pains. You may eat a tag for a season or two. You may see a fraction of the critters that you’d normally see at your old reliable hunting spots. Frustration and doubt are likely to surface. Nonetheless, if you’re willing to gamble and take that risk, to set new goals and overcome new obstacles, there’s no telling what might be waiting for you on the other side. Undeniably, you will grow as a hunter and develop new skillsets to carry with you throughout your journey, both on and off the field.
Feature image via Captured Creative.
I grew up thinking that big bucks were almost unkillable. While I was surrounded by people who hunted, almost no one ever killed a deer that was even 3.5 or older. When someone did, it was a big deal.
Our lived reality was in stark contrast to the hunting videos and magazine articles we consumed. It didn’t make sense, and for years, I struggled with that disconnect. How could some people consistently kill big deer? I couldn’t even find one most summer evenings while running around with an old pair of binoculars. Let alone ever shoot one.
It took a lot of seasons of hard bowhunting and enough encounters to make me realize something about mature bucks—I was thinking about them in a way that held me back. I gave them too much credit and believed they’d beat me. When you walk into the woods with that as your dominant thought, they are going to beat you.
It doesn’t have to be that way, however. You can change how you view them, which will change how often you kill them.
Surround Yourself With SuccessThe group of hunters my dad hung out with when I was growing up (I desperately wanted them to accept me into their clique) were not very successful. They rarely killed does, and while they focused on bucks, they almost always killed nothing or dinks.
There was one guy in the group, Donny, who was different. He sometimes killed big deer, and it was almost always because he tried something the other guys wouldn’t do. He was ahead of the game by a lot back then, and his success showed it.
If you hang around with a bunch of hunters who aren’t very good at it, you’re going to hear a lot about how hard hunting is. You’re going to witness very little success, which is easy to internalize. The opposite is also true. Hang out with a skilled crowd and you’ll level up if for no other reason than others’ success can help demystify your own beliefs.
Try To Fail UpwardWhitetail hunters almost always fail when they hunt. At least if you measure a sit as successful or not by the presence of a blood trail at the end. We are conditioned to fail. We expect it.
But failure is a many-faceted beast, and it can mean many things. Failing by going to the same treestand over and over because it’s easy is different than failing by going mobile and trying to hunt over fresh sign.
One is a passive type of failure where your odds mostly sink a little more with each hunt, and one is an active type of failure where you’re trying to figure something out. Guess which one will likely lead to more mature buck sightings?
If you think you won’t see one because they are all nocturnal or there are no mature bucks in your section, it’s easy to sit that burned-out stand. After all, what does it matter? If you think you have a chance to get in front of a mature buck if you look for him enough and use the element of surprise, you’re going to be better off. This is true even if your failure rate is almost exactly the same as a hunter who never tries.
This is because whitetail hunting success is tied to time in the woods and breaking our own patterns. It’s hard to do that if it feels like a lost cause.
Dare To Be Even More DifferentThe worst thing that can happen to us as hunters is that we witness deer activity that reinforces our beliefs. If we think the bucks are all nocturnal, and we sit on the edge of a field night after night in October, we will mostly be proven right. The big bucks must be nocturnal because the does and youngsters always come out, and the Booners never do.
But the Booners are often just last in line. They are deer, and they mostly do deer things. They walk the same trails as does, they bed on the same ridge as forkies. They just don’t put themselves in harm’s way as easily as the rest of the herd.
Most people think mature bucks are super elusive, but they are mostly just letting the rest of the deer test the waters first. Instead of sitting on the alfalfa and wishing on a mature buck, it’s better to backtrack the deer's travel and try to catch him staging up in the cover. It really can be that simple, and it can boil down to what we believe about deer.
Believe In YourselfThe one thing that changed my attitude about big bucks and whether I’d ever kill them was seeing them while hunting. That’s it. For years, I never did, so I assumed I was right about my prospects. As soon as I started seeing a good deer or two during a full season, I realized that the problem might not be with the bucks but with what I thought about them.
It is said that courage and confidence lead to decision-making, and I think this applies to deer hunting. If you don’t trust your scouting or your hunting skills, you’re likely to default to easy mode so you can accept expected defeat. Conversely, if you put in the time to build a hunting plan and believe in your work, your trajectory will be different.
Try to put yourself in a position where you believe you can make the right decisions and then see them through. Again, you’ll mostly fail, but not always. The few times you get around a mature deer will inform your decision-making process from then until your last season. You’ll kill more big deer, have more fun, and realize that both come from just believing a little less of the BS around big bucks and a little more of the truth about yourself.
For more whitetail hunting information, check out these articles: Is Our Trophy Obsession Killing Whitetail Hunting?, Why You Might Want To Forget About Mature Bucks And Just Hunt, and Why Most Whitetail Hunters Never Kill Mature Bucks.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
In the whitetail-sphere, it’s common for hunters to proclaim that their deer are harder to kill than the deer found in other places. It’s kind of like bitching about local weather. We all like to present a life of struggle and, of course, perseverance.
With whitetails, no one region or state can claim its deer are the toughest to kill. The truth is deer that don’t suffer hunter mistakes live all over, and they share a few things in common. The first is that there usually aren’t very many of them.
Low-Density Deer If you walked up to the edge of a four-acre farm pond with the goal of catching a decent largemouth, your task would be a hell of a lot easier if it was chock full of bass. If there were only three in the whole pond, that’s a different story.
This holds true for whitetails as well. The more deer you have to hunt, the easier it is to kill one. It’s not exactly rocket science. This is the saving grace for many of the states that have low predator numbers and no winter kill. While killing a specific class of mature buck might be a different story, having lots of deer to hunt each year makes things easier.
This is true not only from the perspective of pure odds that something will walk by, but mentally as well. Hunting low-density deer in the north country, or wherever the numbers are weak, is a different deal. It’s frustrating in a lack-of-encounters sort of way, but also a keep-your-head-in-the-game sort of way. Maintaining focus and waking up for another early alarm when the odds of just seeing a deer are low is a great way to learn about how tough deer hunting can be.
The few deer out there are also likely to exhibit signs of low tolerance to hunting pressure. Spook one, and it’s not like another will quickly be down the trail. Or that the spooked deer will be back tomorrow. Low-density deer are different, and they are a real challenge. This only gets more true when you add in a heightened level of hunting pressure.
More Hunters, More ProblemsPeople used to generally believe that public land whitetails were harder to hunt than private land deer, but that’s only true with respect to the level of pressure. I’ve hunted public land western whitetails and deer in Iowa, which were far easier to hunt than deer on private land in other states.
Pressure is just pressure, and the more of it you deal with, the harder the local deer will be to kill. If you hunt a permission-based farm where everyone who asks gets in, you might actually be hunting harder-to-kill deer than those that live on a good-sized chunk of public an hour from your house.
It’s all relative and often viewed as a state-specific issue. For example, someone from Michigan might tell you that his state is much harder to hunt than, say, Kentucky. Yet, hailing from the Mitten State doesn’t mean anything. He could be in southern Michigan on prime ground that no one else can hunt, which would make things a hell of a lot easier. Or, he could drive five hours to the U.P. and experience a vastly different type of hunt that could mean he’s right about how tough they are.
The hunter density at a micro level from parcel to parcel is what creates tough-to-kill deer. It doesn’t matter what state you’re from, but can be influenced by the aforementioned deer density issue. High hunting pressure plus low deer numbers tend to equal one hell of a challenge for anyone looking to notch a tag.
Difficulty Levels Change On a personal level, you might not find shooting year-and-a-half-olds much of a challenge. But, that probably wasn’t always the case. As we get more experience and more seasons under our belts, success is easier to come by. That’s a change in the right direction, but it doesn’t always go that way.
A simple regulation change, or some weather event that knocks down half the trees in a county, or countless other variables can affect how difficult whitetails are to hunt. When I first started traveling to Nebraska in about 2010, I felt like the public land whitetails there were dumber than any deer I’d ever met. They were also plentiful, too.
Killing a decent buck wasn’t a real heavy lift, but as the word got out and more hunters started heading there, things sure seemed to change. It got tougher, as you would expect. The lesson there isn’t to state something blatantly obvious but to frame it up this way—just because your hunting used to be hard doesn’t mean it still is. The opposite can also be true.
Things change, and the challenges we face as deer hunters often morph in unexpected ways. That’s the nature of nature, and it’s part of the fun if you learn to accept it. If you don’t, you might spend your whole deer hunting career believing you’re hunting the MENSA members of the herd, when in reality, they are anything but.
For more whitetail hunting information, check out these articles: Why Are So Many Deer Hunters So Lazy?, Lost Your Hunting Access, No Need To Panic, 3 Products That Might Just Make You A Worse Deer Hunter.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
It was early October 1992, and I was sitting in a wooden treestand overlooking an oak-lined ridgetop. I wanted my first deer in the worst way, and she was heading in my direction. The young doe was on the hunt for a few acorns, and when she posed up at 10 yards, I drew and shot. What I didn’t do, was aim.
When my arrow passed over her back, my rising panic hit a fever pitch. Another arrow sailed high and buried into the dirt. With a 0 and 2 count, I stepped up to the plate one more time and prayed to the deer gods to let me get this one right. They didn’t listen. My third and last arrow followed the same trajectory as the first two.
It was my first, painful lesson on missing, but definitely not my last.
What Makes A Miss Sting The Most There are two main reasons that make a whiff in the archery woods hurt the most. The first is when you just fall apart and miss an easy shot (or three). The second is when it involves a deer that you desperately want to kill. Combining those two at one time is a great way to make the kind of core memory that pops into your head as you’re just about to fall asleep at night. It begs the question of why our brains feel the need to remind us of how flawed we are by dredging up humiliating memories at inopportune times.
Airballing a shot on a deer you really want stings, but it can get worse. When I was stuck in the phase of bowhunting where I could kill young bucks but had yet to arrow a mature deer, I learned this more than a few times. The worst was missing two Minnesota studs in the same 10-minute sequence, entirely because I fell apart. Letting one slip through your fingers is painful enough, but following that up with an immediate repeat performance is something else.
I think about those two bucks every day, even though it has been two decades since that evening sit. They haunt me, but so do the deer that I’ve missed when I can’t pinpoint what went wrong.
The Mystery Misses One thing that filming whitetail hunts teaches you is that what you experience in your mind during a shot is rarely an exact replica of what actually happened. I know people who have never filmed might not believe that, but it’s true. In fact, it’s nearly universally true in my experience.
Things go wrong, and we often don’t know why or how. We just know that everything felt good, and suddenly, an entirely healthy deer exited the scene and left us with an open spot in our quiver. That’s when we fill in the blanks.
The buck must have ducked because my pin was centered. I must have hit a twig. In our heads, we are rarely at fault. In real life, we make mistakes all of the time, especially in high-adrenaline situations. Sometimes, you can make an educated guess on what happened, but some whiffs are truly mysteries.
About 10 years ago, I hung a set on the edge of a swamp in central Minnesota during the late season. The sign in the snow promised some action, and my standards were low. When I heard something coming through the saw grass, I stood up and turned slowly.
A mature doe was on her way in, and when she stopped at 20 yards I was already planning out when I’d butcher her. There was nothing for my arrow to deflect off of, she was at exactly top pin range, and she was relaxed. I felt like I was, too, until I shot two inches over her back and she took off. I have no idea what went wrong other than I think I just defaulted to spray-and-pray mode for a second and didn’t aim correctly.
The next deer to come in was a little buck, and he died in sight. Bowhunting goes like that. It’s chock full of painful, teachable moments.
Learn and Let Go A whiff, or several, will teach you a few things. The major takeaway is that multiple variables conspire on every shot to cause things to go awry. Your job is to eliminate as many as possible. Maybe that’s through more shooting practice, which is rarely a bad idea. Maybe you need to be more comfortable shooting from a stand, or you need to trim your shooting lanes better.
Maybe you panic and guess shot distance when you should be using your rangefinder more. Maybe you’re taking shots you shouldn’t, and instead of forcing an arrow to fly, you should let the encounters unfold naturally. This was one of my biggest problems as a young bowhunter, and learning to be patient with my shot selection and throughout my shot process changed the percentage of positive outcomes by a lot.
The misses suck, but they are part of the process. They are also the blueprint for how to do better in the future. I’ve found the best practice is to try to process what’s going wrong, work on getting better, and develop more confidence as a shooter. That last one is key. The last thing you want is to think you’re going to miss when a buck is walking in, because then that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
For more information on how to become a better archer, check out these articles: The Archery Routine That Will Help You Kill More Deer, How To Fix Target Panic In 3 Steps, and How To Build An Archery Target Stand.
On a brisk weekend in October, I had an epiphany. After three seasons of shivering, sweating, waiting, watching, and throwing the occasional hissyfit—I was standing over a mature, nine-point deer. Was it a record-breaker? No. Did it come at a high price? Yes and no.
This particular instance worked like perfection. The arrow hit right where I wanted it, from about 25 yards. It was a quick, clean kill. I even had the self-control to resist shooting a doe moments before so I could hold out for what I hoped was a buck behind it. This was more than a buck; it was me growing up as a hunter.
Of course, that’s not the whole story. As any public land bowhunter knows, for every successful hunt, there are probably 10 to 20 (or more) unsuccessful hunts. In fact, I spent the previous evening sitting through a thunderstorm in my tree saddle, eventually realizing that it wasn’t going to let up until well after dark. The deer were bedded before I even got up in the tree.
The previous season? Zero deer with my bow. The season before that? Zero deer with my bow.
But this deer lying in front of me was different. It wasn’t dumb luck. I wasn’t relying on insider information. I scouted this area, picked the perfect conditions, and played it to a tee. There’s no feeling like it, and I would give up anything to get there again—including my search for a deer lease.
This is not an anti-hunting-lease manifesto. It’s also not a pretentious “doesn’t count if it’s not on public land” rant, either. If I do my job right, I’m hoping more hunters can simply know what they’re looking for, even if that search leads to a lease.
Lease-less in TexasThere seems to be a prevalent notion in the regions I hunt—Texas, Oklahoma, and some Midwestern states—that the pinnacle of whitetail hunting begins and ends with a private lease. People seem to believe that everything else is a pale imitation, public land included.
To me, it comes down to how you want to hunt more than where you want to hunt.
I’ve had two hunting leases over the past decade or so—one ended up not being a good fit, and the other was a great fit until the land was sold and I no longer had access. For the majority of those seasons in between, I’ve been hunting for a hunting lease—using the same methods that I’m sure thousands of other hunters are employing as we speak.
Then, money got a little tight. It tends to happen when you have three children in four years, and a hunting lease simply wasn’t an option. I stopped looking for leases and instead started looking for new opportunities in the form of public land, lottery draws, and tags out west.
After three years of duking it out on public land, applying for hunts, and saving up my points, we return to my moment—me standing over my hard-earned nine-point buck. Just a few weeks later, still basking in the glow of success, I did something I thought I’d never do—pass up a hunting lease opportunity.
Now that deer season is over—“lease season” begins in earnest around my part of the world, where hunters scramble to forums and social media and any extended family they haven’t alienated over the past few years, all in an effort to find their holy grail. For the first time in my life, I’m bowing out—and I think there are more hunters like me who just don’t know it yet.
Hidden in Plain SightThis is the moment when hunters will be divided. The majority of private land in my area is hunted the same way—corn feeders and blinds. Of course, this is a generalization, but in most cases, hunters manage their land to be so attractive to whitetail that they’ll get shot opportunities at mature deer.
What I found is that the leasing ground is more about land management than it is about hunting deer. Even further, surrounding properties are a notable factor when everyone puts up corn feeders. It shifts travel corridors, bedding areas, and all of a sudden, you’re playing a chess match with other landowners instead of that 10-point you’ve been eyeing all season.
I feel compelled to say this once again—I’m not anti-hunting leases—and I see why whitetail hunters enjoy managing a property for optimal hunting conditions. That being said, during those three years when I couldn’t afford a deer lease, I started looking for other options, and what I found wasn’t as bad as what I’d heard so many times before.
After some digging and help from onX, I discovered that there were nearly 250,000 acres of public hunting land within three hours of my home. So, I started hunting new areas, and found that so much of the “there’s no public land” woes you read about online are based on assumption. I’m not saying this is true across the board—and some areas are certainly more limited than others—but it’s certainly true in my area, and I’m sure it’s true in many areas across many states.
So, before you start shelling out $3,000 to $10,000 a year for a lease, ask yourself this question: Have you tried hunting the public land in your area? Or are you relying on the unsolicited input from strangers online?
The School of Hard NocksThis season, I shot three deer on public land with my compound bow. I also shot a 250-pound hog, some quail, and more than a few doves. But let me make this clear—it wasn’t always pretty. I’m in my third season of bowhunting, and the first two were rough, so much so that even drawing my bow with a whitetail doe in shooting range was a massive success for me. There was one season where I could count on one hand how many deer I even saw, much less considered shooting.
But, this season, it dawned on me. I’ve learned an incredible amount about hunting in just three seasons with my bow, and I attribute a big part of that to hunting public land. This is true for a few reasons:
First, you can pivot to new areas that look different, learning how deer move through different settings and under different pressure.
Second, you’re not limited to any rules other than your local game laws. Both of my leases had stipulations for how many deer I could shoot, how mature they had to be, and even when I had access to the property.
Third, public land is bigger. Unless you’re Ted Turner, there’s no affordable lease out there that can offer the sheer quantity of land that public land does. My first lease was 200 acres. My second lease was 180 acres. If there weren’t deer around, you were out of luck. On public land, I know for a fact that there are mature deer on the WMA—it’s just a matter of finding them.
Recently, I was down on a ranch in South Texas and struck up a conversation with an outfitter. He was talking about the different types of clients he has and who’s best suited for his style of low-fence, free-range hunting on a large section of property—about 12,000 acres. He started listing off different categories—beginners, professional hunters, and your typical whitetail hunters. He told me that he lumps the typical whitetail hunter and the beginners into the same category because their exposure to animal behavior and hunting tactics is so limited. Their experience begins and ends with a feeder.
I’m aware that this isn’t true across the board, but it is worth noting. I’d been hunting whitetails for about six years with a rifle over corn feeders, but I learned more about animal behavior and whitetail patterns in just one hunt on public land. Is it much harder? Sure. Am I a better hunter for it? Yes.
One Man’s Trash…The last point I’ll make is this: There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and there’s more than one kind of whitetail hunter. It took me way too long to figure that out. So, what do you want to do? It’s an important question to ask yourself and once you know the answer, it’ll guide every decision you make moving forward.
My answer told me that leasing private land was a waste of money. Over the past few years, I’ve fallen in love with the “chess match.” There’s nothing more thrilling than walking up to a 15,000-acre chunk of land with a bow and a tree saddle, nothing stopping you from tagging your trophy but…you. There are deer there. Big ones. It’s up to you—and only you—to be in a position to take the shot. When that lease was dropped in my lap, I couldn’t help but think, “Why would I give up what I have for something I enjoy less—and also pay 10 to 15 times the cost?”
Make no mistake, your answer may be different. While I like the physical challenge, the grind, and the reward that comes with public land hunting, you may enjoy managing a property—creating food plots, bedding areas, and travel corridors—to bring in that buck of a lifetime. In that case, private land is the way to go.
Either way, just know that your hunting happiness is up to you. Ignore anyone who’s complaining about hunting pressure, overcrowding, high prices, and listing off the reasons why everything sucks. You know what sucks more? Sitting on your ass instead of getting out in the woods where the deer are. Go find out for yourself. It’ll make it that much sweeter when you’re field-dressing your own success story.
It’s a rare day that I focus my hunting efforts on individual bucks. It’s just not my style, and I don’t have much ground to work with where it’s a feasible strategy. It’s not that I haven’t gone down that road in the past—because I have—it’s just that today, it doesn’t make much sense for me.
What does make sense for me, and probably for you as well, is to learn to identify general mature buck core areas. These locations, provided the habitat doesn’t change or they don’t witness a huge influx of hunting pressure, are generational. If there’s one thing whitetail bucks are masters at, it’s identifying the areas where they have a huge survival advantage. This is not something that’s limited to individual deer.
The more you can sniff out the places where bucks feel comfortable, the more you can craft a hunting plan that allows you to poke around the edges and put yourself in the game. The best opportunity to start this quest is during winter scouting missions.
Understanding Core AreasWhen we think about a buck’s home range, we think of it being a uniform shape. Sure, if you have a block of timber and ag that is exactly one square mile, that might do it. If you’re dealing with western river-bottom bucks, swamp dwellers down south, or just about any habitat and land-use variable you can think of, it’s not so simple.
It gets even less simple when you think about a core area inside that home range. We often daydream of a 20-acre patch of gnarly habitat, usually with some elevation involved. In many situations, that would make a great core area, but I don’t think it’s so cut and dry. It seems like if bucks truly had small patches of cover that they frequented over and over, we’d kill them easier.
I believe bucks, mostly bucks that live with real hunting pressure, have multiple core areas. This only makes sense from an evolutionary and survival perspective. If you’re a prey animal and you don’t want to become dinner, you can’t afford to be overly predictable.
You have to have multiple safe spots to bed, browse, lay down sign, and just spend the daylight hours. These locations are the key to their survival, and the key to how we can pattern them, which starts now.
Winter Scouting For Core AreasWinter scouting is a blanket term for getting out there and covering ground in search of deer sign. It’s valuable, but you have to look for the right stuff. For me, when I’m trying to pin down core areas that I’ll definitely hunt in six or eight months, this involves rub lines. I like scrapes and big tracks, but rub lines betray buck habits better than anything.
Big deer can’t help but make rubs. They do this when they leave their beds to go feed and when they leave the feed to go to bed. Oftentimes, core areas will have spoked-out rub lines leading to and from the areas in which bucks spend their daylight hours.
The problem here is rub lines aren’t always as obvious as they should be. In many types of habitat you won’t be able to stand in one spot and look at a dozen rubs all leading away from a nice hillside bench. You might find a few rubs along a trail and then circle back to find a few more rubs leading down a different trail in the opposite direction.
I find that if I’m winter scouting and I’m walking in one direction for too long, I’m usually missing out. Identifying real core areas tends to involve almost a grid-search mentality. It’s more of a micro-scouting strategy versus a macro one, if that makes sense.
Core Areas + Trail Cameras = Future Dead BucksWhen you start to figure out some likely core areas, the best strategy is to run cameras in the off-season if you can. Even mature bucks that have shed their antlers are pretty obvious, and it doesn’t matter what their headgear looks like right now or throughout the next several months. What you want to do is confirm that these areas matter to mature deer.
There is an argument to be made that the deer using a fall core area might not need to spend much time there in the spring and summer. This is true, but it doesn’t matter. They’ll swing back through from time to time, and they won’t totally abandon the places they feel most comfortable.
The goal with dropping some cameras off in these spots and leaving them for months is to confirm your suspicions. A once-per-week visit from a buck tells you a lot. What tells you more, however, is when that same buck shows up on a camera that same week in a different core area.
The more data you have on these visits, the less random they become. This is the intel that allows you to hunt them correctly in the fall, and you can gather much of it right now.
For more information on whitetail hunting, check out these articles: Why You Might Want to Forget About Mature Bucks and Just Hunt, How to Find More Mature Buck Sheds This Season, and Why Are So Many Deer Hunters So Lazy?
Hunters have an undeniable fascination with giant antlered, big-bodied bucks. If you've decided to take on the challenge of understanding mature bucks, you're in danger of becoming addicted and obsessed. However, studying mature bucks can also increase your fun in the woods.
Mature bucks are king in the big woods. They live in constant survival mode due to hunting pressure, predators, and the drive to carry on their bloodline. It's no wonder that they are rare creatures. Young bucks or does have basic survival instincts, but a few years of experience make a seasoned buck's senses sharper than any other deer in the woods.
A mature buck may seem impossible to kill, but remember, they don't possess critical thinking skills. There are a few things to look for during the offseason that will help you outsmart a wily old buck. And, you can do it in his home range.
Central Areas of ActivityA hub is a central area of deer activity. They occur where wind and thermal currents dump into terrain, cover, or both. Mature bucks might use a hub when hitting a community scrape at night, but most often use them to check the status of estrous. Bucks also need a place to feed and socialize with other deer.
The hub may be a primary food source, like state-managed crops. But there are usually better prospects in a big woods setting. A good example is a place where several drainages meet or a new clear-cut meets the edge of hardwoods. A thick understory cover that deer can use as a physical barrier will add value to any of these places.
Bedding Cover and TerrainIf you've started researching how to hunt mature bucks, I guarantee you'll read about hunting buck beds. Bed hunting is an effective strategy, but it isn't made for every hunter, much like every football player isn't made to be a quarterback.
The task for offseason scouting is to locate as many potential buck beds as possible. Maybe you will hunt them; perhaps you won't. The critical thing to learn is how to intercept that buck in his travel to or from that bed.
You'll find the most pronounced buck bedding on the end of ridge points and where the ridge edge drops off to steeper terrain (commonly termed "military" crest). If you can find obvious bedding terrain on a mapping app like onX, so can every other hunter. That will mean more hunting pressure to overcome. Mature bucks will use these standard bedding features. But in heavily pressured areas, they often avoid them.
Hidden benches or shallow ditches with edges surrounded by deadfall trees are challenging to find. These spots are difficult to find in person, much less via a map.
An edge like that will have a near-perfect escape route if the cover is thick to one side. The first time you see a buck jump out of a pile of rocks, it will surprise you. After that, you'll understand the value.
Bucks will always take advantage of their best option for security. It may be sight-based bedding where bucks can watch the common danger, like people hiking towards them in the dark. Or it could be classic wind-based bedding where a buck lays on a hill's wind-protected side. The wind will blow over his back, and a rising thermal current will hit his face.
Hilly terrain is your friend in these big woods. You can utilize a fold-in terrain to avoid their sight while using wind and thermals to disguise your scent during your approach.
Isolated Food SourcesBreaking down large tracts of land is intimidating. It helps to think small about isolated food in the big woods. Green briar or berry patches are my favorite big woods food sources. Poke berries in the middle of a five-year-old clear-cut can be magnets for bucks waiting for darkness to hit the main food source.
Do you have moist ground that grows mushrooms? Is there a thicket with Osage oranges? One way to help yourself learn what deer eat is to identify the plants in your neck of the woods. Learning to read feeding sign such as rooted soil with deer tracks, half-eaten leaves, or nipped tops of shrubs and saplings will tell you what's desirable and what isn't.
Signature Buck SignLike an old-school bandit that leaves their mark on the scene, mature bucks often leave a signature. Maybe they have an abnormal point to their antler that leaves a distinct gouge in the trees they rub. They could even prefer a specific type of tree at a certain elevation.
I've witnessed that particular signature made by a respectable 8-point I chased a few years back. That deer rubbed every solitary laurel bush he could find at about 1,300 feet. They were all on a straight path about five inches in diameter. In addition to that, there were scat and tracks that no small deer could make. I'd love to tell you the time I hunted that deer ended with a buck in my truck. But all I got was a glimpse of a spooked deer when he heard my tree stand squeaking on frozen bark.
Tracks are another sign that can lead you in the right direction. Not all mature bucks have a large track, but you'll rarely find a young buck with a big track. If you have large tracks in the area you're scouting, there is a good chance a mature buck made them. The four-finger width rule is what most hunters consider a mature bucks track, but stride length can also be a good indicator of size. The longer the stride, the bigger the deer.
Scouting with snow on the ground is your best friend for reading tracks. Avoid being fooled by tracks in the snow with melted edges, or that appear to be made while a deer was running.
Wrap UpLike a detective who works hard to crack the case, hunters who consistently kill big bucks work hard to understand a mature buck and its surroundings.
Gather the evidence and ask yourself questions about the fundamentals. Where can you locate primary and secondary food sources? How far from food is the closest bedding area? Is there a water source close by? How many does use the location? Can the cover conceal a buck during daylight?
Big bucks don't die at the hands of stagnant hunters. Taking a gamble on a new hunting technique is challenging. But the payoff will lead to better whitetail hunting.
There’s a saying for folks who work in marketing that goes something like this: the minute you sign a new client is the minute you start to lose them. This general rule applies to hunting spots as well. The minute you get permission to hunt a property is the minute you start to lose that property.
Unless you’re the title holder to a piece of deer ground, the grip you hold on permission is tenuous at best. Farmers pass away, leaving their ground to kids who want nothing to do with that lifestyle. Developers come along with deep pockets and life-changing offers. Property taxes head north at a rate that doesn’t justify the ownership anymore. If any of these things happen, and you’re hunting on a handshake, you’re out.
Other things can happen to keep whitetail hunters from specific properties, as well. A family member might decide that naming bucks and keeping them for himself is more appealing than sharing ground with folks who might kill ‘his’ deer. Someone might come along and offer to lease a farm, or maybe a landowner finds one too many dead-but-unrecovered bucks in his cornfield and says enough is enough.
There are a lot of ways you can go from having a spot to hunt to not having a spot. Acknowledge this, and then do your best to mitigate it.
Concentrated Wealth In the finance world, it is common to hear about folks who made a big bet 30 years ago on Apple or some other future performer, and now their portfolio is full of true, generational wealth. We love these stories because they convince us that it’s possible. What you rarely hear about are the people who put all of their money into Kodak, Enron, or most companies. Concentration with your money means risk.
The same applies to hunting ground. If you have one spot to hunt, you can’t afford to lose it. Now, I know you’re thinking that Grandma is going to leave the land to you or your dad when she dies. But counting on land being available long-term, especially when it’s going to change ownership hands, is a sucker’s bet.
Options are your friend. If you’re not on the hunt for a backup spot, get on it. Then get on the hunt for a backup to your backup. If you wait until the green light turns red, it’s too late. Of course, this might mean you have to accept that your opportunities and goals will have to change with your hunting ground options.
Scary Change I recently had a conversation with an Iowa bowhunter who has access to two adjoining, unbelievable properties. He kills big deer every year. He’s also terrified he’s going to lose his access, and eventually, his kids won’t have a place to hunt. I mentioned that Iowa has something pretty good going on with their public land and their deer herd, but he couldn’t quite fathom it.
The thing is, you’re not entitled to the hunt you want. You get what you get, and instead of being terrified of change or having to work harder for a buck that you wouldn’t have previously shot, understand that it’s reality. When you lose a spot, you’re almost always going to have to work harder to scout, hunt, and fill those tags.
That’s not the bad thing we convince ourselves it is. While it’s not fun to lose a spot, it’s also easy to get stuck in a hunting rut. This happens a lot to people who have access to really good ground. Eventually, the challenge dissipates, and the hunting just doesn’t have the spark it used to. New ground can change all of that, even if it sounds like a major downgrade, which it might be. But it might also be the life raft that keeps you afloat in the deer world when someone closes the gate on your prime spot and leaves you on the outside looking in.
Don’t Take It For GrantedAside from doing what you can to line up more hunting spots and accepting change as a way of life, keep yourself accountable. Don’t take your permission-based hunting for granted. It’s easy to believe you have a tight relationship with a farmer you’ve known since high school, so you neglect to make the call and re-up on your permission one year. Or you assume you can take a few buddies out to hunt with you when you have never been specifically green-lit to do that.
Something as simple and as seemingly innocent as calling a farmer during planting or harvesting season can get you on his bad side. Parking your truck too close to the road and blocking the neighbor’s combine or showing up to blood trail a buck at midnight without a courtesy heads-up hours earlier can get you booted.
Hold yourself accountable for your actions, and appreciate what you have. Getting hunting permission to private ground is a gift, and should be treated as such. One of the easiest ways to lose a spot and then have to hunt for something new is just simply taking the whole thing for granted.
For more information on whitetail hunting, check out these articles: Why You Might Want to Forget About Mature Bucks and Just Hunt, Why Are So Many Deer Hunters So Lazy?, and Why Some Deer Mean So Much To Us, And Others Just Don’t.
Too much hunting media preaches a conservative approach to whitetail hunting that just doesn’t work for most hunters. This message has largely dominated the conversation around hunting mature whitetails. Minimize pressure, hunt the fringes, wait for the stars to align—the same jargon that’s been recycled every hunting season and convinced hunters to hold out for bigger bucks that just aren’t coming.
It’s a top-down message that says, “If you work hard enough and save all your pennies, you can be a millionaire just like me,” without telling you about the trust fund or that their dad owns the company. I’m not against these types of hunting situations or hunters. I have several friends who hunt massive, privately managed properties with plenty of Booners to boot. However, the same rules just don’t apply to the guy who works six days a week and squeezes in with the rest of the crowd on public land.
If you’re a weekend warrior and primarily a public land hunter, you’ll spend your season waiting for the right conditions or making excuses to hunt another B-spot. I’m not suggesting that you throw all caution to the wind, dive in, and disregard your access or the wind direction. But, instead of conservative tactics, you should be thinking of a calculated approach.
A calculated approach might be aggressive, but it’s not reckless. While you’ll need to consider the obvious (deer bedding and travel, access, wind direction, etc.), you should also consider the amount of time you actually have to hunt each season. Like the actual number. Count up your weekends, vacation days, PTO (if you have it), and write that number down. Depending on your career and vacation scenario, you might think you have plenty of days to hunt, but here are a few factors to consider before saving your best spots for the perfect conditions.
How Many Days Can You Actually Hunt?We like to think of hunting seasons in terms of months, but we should be thinking about them in terms of days. Just for fun, let’s run through a hypothetical scenario. Let’s say you live in a state with a deer season that runs from October 1 to January 31 and you only have Saturdays and Sundays to hunt, no vacation because you spent it with your family at the beach, but you have four holidays. That’s a total of 36 days. Not so bad, right? Well, that number is misleading.
It represents the potential number of days you could hunt if everything goes right. But, if you’re married and have kids, you still have to consider sick days, birthdays, family obligations, holidays, and the long list of unexpected things life will throw at you, not to mention the “busted” sits where other two and four-legged predators ruin your hunt. You’ll still have to subtract those factors from your total number of days.
As much as I’m against it, we’ll take a conservative approach with these calculations. Say you have two hunts where squirrel hunters walk through your setup, you and your significant other get the flu, which costs you four hunting days, you have one child with a birthday in October, you have to travel for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, which requires six more hunting days, your truck breaks down on a Friday just before a cold front, and your significant other needs a weekend of quality time, taking two more days. Finally, the forecast calls for severe thunderstorms one weekend in November. That’s 19 days. Subtract that from your total of 36, and you’re left with 17. That’s less than half of the days you originally anticipated. Still want to spend the month of October hunting the fringes? Yeah, me either.
Murphy’s LawI used to get frustrated every time something would interfere with my hunting plans, especially if I used vacation time. Now, I’m more surprised when it doesn’t. A couple of years ago, I took off a week to hunt the rut. Not fifteen minutes into my first sit, my wife texted and said she wasn’t feeling too hot. That day was unseasonably warm, but I knew a cold front would be pushing through the next evening, so I offered to come home and help out with our daughter so my wife could rest. She insisted against it, but I decided to come home anyway because better conditions were on the horizon anyway.
Fast forward twenty-four hours and one positive COVID test later, and that was a wrap for my rutcation. Sure, one day might not have made a difference, but there went a total of five during peak rutting action. I had to resume work the next week, only to be derailed by heavy showers the next Saturday. Just like that, two weeks passed, and it was back to trying to figure out what the deer were doing. At this point, I had two full days left in my season, with the best days behind me. I’ll let you guess how many tags I filled with those two days.
Similarly, I’ve wasted hunts by talking myself into sitting a B-spot because the conditions weren’t exactly perfect. Instead, I should have read the fresh sign and taken advantage of the time I had to hunt that day. We tell ourselves we’re being smart by playing it safe, but in reality, you take yourself out of the game, and then a month goes by before you get any type of condition to hunt your A-spot.
This isn’t a license to cut corners, get lazy, or implement other bad hunting habits, but it should make you take a hard look at how many days you’ll likely get afield next season. You don’t have to approach every sit like it’s your last, but a little more calculation and urgency won’t hurt.
Feature image via Captured Creative.
Growing up in southeastern Minnesota, I thought we had the laziest hunters. During gun season, the amount of trucks creeping along gravel roads with the windows down was a sure sign of a road hunt in progress. It never made sense to me to take the hunt out of the hunt and shoot one from the ditch, but I naively thought it was a local issue.
I thought a lot of things about the average hunter from my home state when I was young, and it wasn’t until I started to travel to hunt that I found out those traits were damn near ubiquitous in the general hunting population. It really hit home for me on a spot and stalk mule deer hunt in North Dakota when a couple guys stopped by our campfire to swap stories.
The badlands back then were full of muleys and antelope, and these guys had tags for both. They also explained how they carried their bows in their passenger seat and had shot at several speed goats that day. To my buddies and I, it was a weird exchange that we’d have been embarrassed to admit. To them, it was just one of the ways they hunted.
Since then, I’ve hunted all over the United States and in a few other countries in Africa and South America. It isn’t just hunters in the upper Midwest who try to take the easy route to a filled tag, and it turns out there are a few hard-to-escape reasons for this.
Hunt, Gather, RepeatEarly humans had one job—survive. Hunter-gatherer societies had the daily task of finding calories in the wild while not becoming calories for something else. That was about it. It’s hard for us to conceive of hundreds upon hundreds of generations of hominids living this way. In fact, it’s hard for most of us to imagine what the world was like even 125 years ago.
While reading Cormac McCarthy’s, The Passenger, the other night, this reality hit me. About halfway through the book, he writes these lines: His grandmother was born in eighteen ninety-seven. McKinley was president and the country was at war with Spain. There was no electricity, no telephone, no radio, no television, no cars, no planes. No electricity, no air conditioning. In most of the world no running water and no toilets. Life had changed little since the Middle Ages.
Think about that. It wasn’t even that long ago when the act of getting through a day would have taken so much more energy. Today, we generally don’t have to put much effort in to eat and survive, and that reality bleeds into hunting.
Old Brains, New WorldEvolution is a process that finds solutions to problems on a species-wide scale. Most primates never figured out how effective it is to throw things at prey animals or carry valuable objects with them, which led them down a different path. Some primates did, however. Once that happened, the progression from hurling rocks and other blunt objects to crafting and throwing spears was set in motion. This eventually led to atlatls, bows and arrows, and an ever-changing advantage when it came to procuring food or protecting oneself.
We innately work to make things easier, and for almost all of our existence, what we needed to be easier was the procurement of energy. Our old, slowly evolving brains developed reward centers that gave us some sweet dopamine when we found the right berries or walked up on a few fish finning away in crude traps. The evolutionary guardrails of nature push life to find easier ways to stay alive.
While our operating system hasn’t been updated in a long time, the world in which we operate has. We have the luxury of not needing to hunt for food, regardless of whether we prefer wild game or factory-farmed protein. This dynamic is hard to recognize in ourselves, but it’s one of the reasons why it’s so easy to become a lazy hunter, and to seek the least challenging deer we can find.
Modern Hunting It’s hard to get someone to admit they want their hunting to be way easier, but that reality manifests itself in multiple ways in the whitetail world. Where baiting is legal, it’s by far the most common hunting method. Anyone who can plant a food plot, probably will. If leasing a property and leaving it alone until Halloween is the best way to kill a mature buck, that’s the most likely route a hunter will take.
There’s nothing wrong with any of this. It’s literally hardwired into our brains to try to make this stuff easier. But we also have the option to choose a challenge. We have the option to acknowledge what we want out of hunting, and can try to find that.
This is where so many folks fall a little flat in their endeavors. Some people want real easy, and they make no bones about it. Others think they want easy, but find out that it’s just not for them. Plenty of folks are somewhere in the middle, wrestling with wanting the challenge of killing a mature buck until they figure out how challenging that is in most situations.
It’s a weird state to be in, which results in a lot of hunters who are just kind of lazy. We tend to seek the lowest effort, most direct route when it comes to killing deer, but that has ramifications on ourselves and the resource.
What does this really mean? It’s hard to say, but an interesting thought exercise is to look at our own hunts to examine how fulfilling and enjoyable they really are. Maybe that self-reflection leads us to set down our compounds and pick up a recurve, or for many of us, set down the compound and pick up a crossbow.
The pull of easy is real. It’s not good or bad on a grand scale. It is what it is, and it’s up to us to figure out how much of a challenge we really want out of deer hunting while acknowledging that our default setting is almost always to seek out the path of least resistance on the route to a filled tag.
For more whitetail info, check these articles out: Why You Might Want To Forget About Mature Bucks And Just Hunt, How To Find More Mature Buck Sheds This Winter, and 3 Whitetail Products That Might Just Make You A Worse Whitetail Hunter.
I've spent a substantial amount of time hunting whitetails in the big woods. Understanding scrapes has, without a doubt, led me to more consistent encounters than any other hunting tactic.
Their basic framework is an open patch of dirt with an overhanging licking branch. The size of a scrape might tell you that many deer use it. A scrape with more depth and a foul smell is a telltale sign that a mature buck frequents it. Its location could tell you when deer actually visit the area.
If you're making a postseason scouting checklist, you'll want to add these scrapes.
Community ScrapesThese large, car-hood-sized scrapes are hard to miss because deer work them regularly. You'll find them at terrain junctions where several deer trails converge, and they typically hold multiple licking branches.
Community scrapes provide a cluster of intel, as most deer in a given area will visit it at some point. But they’re not just useful for the trendy habit of naming big bucks and making a hit list. The right community scrape can tell you a lot about the deer in a certain area. Using trail cameras to collect data will help you understand the personality of bucks and the habits of doe family groups in the area.
Ideal settings for trail cameras on community scrapes are a 2-shot burst with a 20-second delay for photo mode or a 15-second video with a 30-second to a 1-minute delay. A buck will spend a lot of time at a scrape. Longer delay saves battery life and SD-card space on a buck that could spend 15 minutes or more at the same scrape.
Scrapes Downwind of Doe BeddingScrapes made during the rut can be tough to find during postseason scouting. By spring, most of these scrapes are covered with leaves. Start by locating bedding cover first. Then, examine the outside edges for scrapes. You’ll likely find scrapes that haven’t been hit since the rut or late October. However, if you do locate a scrape line downwind of bedding, especially with decent cover, that area probably saw a lot of cruising action.
Look for scrapes with enough cover to hide a moving buck. Is there multiple doe-family bedding along the route? Will a buck be able to use a common wind to scent check the bedding? Milkweed or a synthetic wind checker is on my packing list for most scouting trips for this reason.
The small scrape lines only heat up for a couple weeks in late October, so timing is key. And this route will likely vary by 10 to 50 yards in different years. So, take notes and drop waypoints on these small scrape lines for next November.
The Scrape with EverythingIf I were going to bet my money on a scrape, it would be one located just inside or near bedding with access to food and water.
During a postseason scouting trip, I followed a thick edge of mountain laurel, where I picked up three decent shed antlers. Deeper into the cover, a pounded deer trail led to a small water hole where I spotted a scraggly old licking branch. The scrape under it was underwhelming, but it had been pawed down deep and reeked with deer urine. I marked it, snapped a few photos, and planned to take a buddy there to explore further. When we did, I told him, "One of us is killing over this scrape."
Sometimes, speaking your hunt into existence is all you need. Late into the month of October, I knelt down next to a public land 10-point.
These are the best scrapes for hunting any buck, as they will be far more comfortable in thick cover. Bucks know danger well and may not be ready to travel from one county to the next in search of does. Watch these scrapes in mid-October for a burst of activity and again the last two to three days of that month.
Keep in mind that in that thick cover, your only option may be to hunt from the ground or learn to take tight shots. So plan ahead to adjust for the surroundings—it’ll help you arrow a mammoth if he decides to visit that scrape during the rut.
Offseason KnowledgeScouting scrapes is more than just finding one. Sometimes, it could mean investing a whole season to learn how and when deer use it. Increased value to scrapes comes from what you understand about the sign around it.
When postseason scouting for scrapes, always take a moment to read surrounding features. There’s nothing quite like becoming a student of the woods and, eventually, passing the test.
A few years ago, we redid our basement floor. According to my wife, since there were new floors going in, we also needed new furniture and a fresh coat of paint on the walls. While she was right, I mostly felt like my time in the boat throwing topwaters for smallies was disappearing a little more with each one of her wishes.
While we flirted with divorce a few times during that lower-level house overhaul, what really struck me as interesting was when it was time to put my deer mounts back on the walls. Even though I don’t mount them anymore, I have enough shoulder mounts to take up more space than we have, so a few have bled into other parts of the house.
Somehow I got distracted during this process, and when I returned home, I saw two mounts hanging in the garage. They’d been demoted by my wife, and they were both the smallest of the lot. Her reasoning was that in my trophy room, I probably wanted the biggest trophies.
The deer, a pair of two-year-olds, represent more to me than many of the much bigger mounts. One was my first buck that wasn’t a year and a half old. He was the culmination of a stupid amount of effort over many seasons riding along on the old struggle bus. The other was my first trad bow kill, which was a big accomplishment for me on many levels.
Those two bucks are the least impressive rack-wise, but are some of the most meaningful to me. They also taught me a lesson about deer that I hope I never forget.
Big Deer At All Costs The current vibe in the hunting industry, and largely in the general hunting population, is that bigger is always better. If a 170-inch deer is cool, a 200-inch deer is just better. If you shot a 100-inch eight-pointer last year, a 120-inch deer this year is better. In one way, this is true. No one who has a spike and a 5.5-year-old toad walk in together intentionally shoots the spike. Some anti-trophy people will tell you they will, but they are lying.
This makes total sense, especially if deer hunting, in general, is pretty challenging for you. If you live in that reality, the big bucks that other people often kill represent a world in which you hope to live someday. I felt this way for a long, long time. Then, I hunted in Texas.
On that hunt, an outfitted affair with several industry folks, the big bucks hit the ground without effort. We were driven to our stands, waited for the feeders to buzz to life and scare the shit out of us, and then we picked a big buck out of the crowd and killed him. It was the weirdest deer hunt for me because I’d never had one that easy. I loved it and hated it, all at the same time.
The busted-up 10-pointer I killed is now a euro mount on my shelf, and it means nothing to me. The trip, with some friends I rarely see and one who is no longer with us, was fun for many reasons. The actual hunting part was fun in a novelty way, but the deer were almost like living targets. We played the game in easy mode. It wasn’t fulfilling to me at all.
Challenge MattersThis is highly personal, but think about the deer, or turkeys, or elk, or roosters, or whatever, that mattered the most to you. Conjure up your best hunting memories, and ask yourself, what do they involve? Undoubtedly, you’ll recall some of the biggest animals you’ve taken. Some probably won’t.
Some of my favorite deer were does. Some were just tough to kill, like those head-on-a-swivel ladies that live on public land in wolf country, while others were just what I needed at certain times in my life. The success of hunting, both from a dead critter’s perspective and from the perspective of getting what you need out of the time in the woods, is often tied to greater things in our lives.
Times when we were struggling and we really needed a win. Times when we felt like we had given it all the effort we could, after sitting through the cold longer days, and then out walks a little consolation prize at the end of the season. The deer that mean the most to us are often the ones we just had to suffer to kill. The ones that put us through a lot of misery, a little hell if you will, before things broke our way.
Those are the deer that often matter the most. They may be giants or forkies, but they all teach us something about why we hunt—and how we should hunt from here on out.
For more deer hunting information, check these articles out: Why You Might Want To Forget About Mature Bucks And Just Hunt, 3 Products That Might Just Make You A Worse Whitetail Hunter, and How To Find More Matched Sets Of Shed Antlers This Winter.
Hunting is a sport of continually changing variables, with every decision you make compounding on the next and altering the outcome of the day. The uncertainty is what makes hunting so exciting. The best hunts are usually days when success is completely inconceivable, and when you least expect it, things take a turn for the better.
But as we all know too well, more often than not, Murphy is bound to show up and hand you a low blow. The ones that really hurt are the ones that could have easily been avoided by a little preparation and proactiveness. Here’s a stupid-easy list of things that might just save you from kicking yourself on the way back to the truck next season.
Inspect and Draw Your Bow Before Every HuntThis one is brought to you by an elk hunt that was going absolutely right, a Montana branch-antlered bull was headed my way, mere feet away from my shooting lane. Just when I thought it was a done deal, while drawing back my bow after six days of dirt naps, the universe had other plans. My normally silky-smooth bow made the loudest creek imaginable, stopping the bull in his tracks. Just as quickly as it happened, the jig was up, and I was soon returning home with a tag left in my pocket.
The moral of the story is the outcome of your entire hunt comes down to the utility of your weapon. Inspect it regularly, it only takes a couple seconds. In terms of bowhunting, throughout the hunt, give your bow several test draws to ensure dirt, snow, debris, and moisture haven’t worked their way into the moving parts.
Better yet, fire a single arrow prior to each hunt. While you’re at it, check for any loose fletchings, dirt stuck in the throat of your nocks, and ensure your broadheads are still tight. If this all seems obvious, it is, but I sure wish it was fresh in my mind that day in Montana.
Bring A Backup ReleaseHave you ever gotten to stand only to find that you forgot your release in the other backpack at home? Have you ever lost your handheld release in the woods, never to be seen again? Be honest. I know I’m not the only one.
Every hunt could be the hunt of a lifetime, don’t let a brain fart ruin it for you. Keeping a spare release in your backpack is an easy way to save the hunt.
Test Your Broadhead AccuracyMany green hunters take to the field every year with broadheads that have never been shot, placing endless faith in the manufacturer’s claim to field point accuracy. I’ll admit to being guilty of this in my younger days, when money was tight, and a $30 six-pack of Thunderheads should have lasted me several seasons.
What I’ve since come to learn is that broadheads, especially fixed blades, seldom fly like field points. It is not until you’ve fine-tuned your bow that broadheads start to group with your field points. Replacement blades or expandable broadheads that have a practice mode are a cheap way to leave nothing to chance. You might save yourself from future heartbreak after learning that your bow needs a little tune-up before taking to the woods.
Bring A Replacement Rangefinder BatteryWe all think we’re experts at judging yardage and don’t really need rangefinders. We just carry one for validation of our always accurate yardage estimations, right?
Joking aside, few inventions have been as impactful on hunting as handheld rangefinders, which we now take for granted. That is, until the battery dies. Now you have to make the ethical decision—how far can I realistically shoot, not knowing the exact yardage?
After everything that’s gone into the hunt, it’s not fun when tiny details like this ruin your day. Carrying a packable possibles bag, battery inclusive, on every hunt is cheap insurance. Other archery kit items should include extra D-loop material, serving material, replacement nocks, a judo or field point to verify your zero, backup release, super glue, and a bit of moleskin.
Silence Your BowThese days, bow and arrow rest manufacturers do a pretty good job at incorporating silent operation into their design. However, they still need help to keep them lethally quiet. After all, one subtle but unnatural noise is all it takes for a deer to pinpoint you and send him high-tailing away.
Start by checking the condition of the felt on your arrow rest, repair if necessary or just ensure that it stays in good shape. Next, check to see if your arrow rest has enough play to allow your arrow to come into contact with the riser, shelf, or scope housing when canting your bow in all directions. Oftentimes, even full containment drop-away arrow rests have points of contact between the arrow and riser or scope housing. A little moleskin can easily remedy that problem.
On the topic of silencing your bow, string silencers, low-profile streamlined fletchings, new strings and cables, and low-drag broadheads and semi-heavy arrows can all help a bit. While you’ll never make your bow completely silent, and the speed of sound will always be faster than your bow and arrow, why not do everything you can to stack the deck in your favor?
Feature image via Captured Creative.
Yes, I know. Hunter success rates depend on filled tags, but I’m not simply reducing success to dead deer. The playing field is anything but level for deer hunters. From weekend warriors on the local WMA to those who have clawed their way into privately managed honey holes, the circumstances are different. Everyone is also at a different point in their hunting career. A one-size-fits-all blueprint for success just doesn’t work.
If this past hunting season served you a big helping of tag soup, you’re in the right place. While no one wants to end deer season with an empty freezer, success might not be as black and white as filling a tag or not. And just because you didn’t shoot your target buck, or any deer for that matter, doesn’t mean your season was a failure. If you’re comparing your hunting season to the highlight reels on Instagram, you’re setting unrealistic standards and putting a damper on your own hunting season. This isn’t some everyone-deserves-a-trophy sentiment (which I’m against), but it is a case for acknowledging the things you got right, so you can get over the hump and have confidence for next year.
The Little VictoriesIt’s difficult to think of a hunt as successful when you walk out empty-handed in the dark. But what about the other aspects of your hunt? Did you see deer without spooking them? This might not seem significant (though I would argue otherwise) if you’re hunting the same family farm you have for years. But what if this was a spot you found on a new piece of public?
This past season, I scouted my way into a new big woods piece and located an intersection of trails that converged near a creek crossing. After spending half an hour deciding between two trees for my setup, I went with my gut, picked the one that gave me the best cover advantage, and settled in. An hour before the end of legal shooting light, eight does fed through. One of them did so at twenty yards just before I punched the trigger and sailed an arrow right over her back.
I totally whiffed on a layup, and while that part of the hunt was a failure, everything up until that point screamed success. I scouted my way into a new area, interpreted the deer sign correctly, picked the right tree, and didn’t get busted drawing. Other than executing the shot, which I realize is a major part of it, I found the x on the first sit.
Sure, I would have preferred to hit my mark, but given the circumstances, I left that hunt encouraged, knowing I put all the pieces together but one. But, if you’re just looking at the end result and not giving yourself credit for putting yourself in the right situation, you’ll walk away defeated, thinking about all those grip-and-grins plastered on your friends’ social media pages. Think of it this way: even if you can stack arrows inside a dime, that precision won’t do you any good if you can’t find the deer. Count your victories, even the small ones. Then, take an honest inventory of the things that went wrong and fix them.
Competing Against YourselfI promise I’m not an old man harping on the evils of social media and the inevitable doomsday that technology has expedited. However, it’s hard not to compare our success to others when we see it 24/7. And if you do this with hunting, you’ll never develop the confidence or joy that you need to become a better hunter. Like powerlifting or marathon running, hunting is very much a sport where you’re competing against yourself. Of course, there are other people competing, but you’re trying to crush your fastest time or set a new PR, not everyone else’s.
With hunting, you’re aiming for a bigger buck, your first deer with a bow, or maybe you want to ditch the tree saddle and take one from the ground. Regardless of your goal, no one cares about your outcome except you and the handful in your corner.
On the flip side, just because you fill a tag doesn’t mean you’ve leveled up as a hunter. It’s often through failure that learning occurs. For instance, I was lucky enough to kill a buck this past season because I was in the right place at the right time.
I decided to leave my setup early because the wind didn’t line up with the forecast. I scouted my way out and found a community scrape that was recently worked. While I was standing there, this buck circled downwind of the scrape not fifteen yards from where I stood in the wide open, and I leveled him.
Other than the fact that I’m capable of shooting a deer broadside at a whopping fifteen yards with a rifle, I didn’t learn much from that hunt. I was happy to shoot a buck and add some meat to the freezer, but I didn’t have that rush of executing a hard-earned plan. In fact, I’ve learned way more from hunts where I’ve missed deer or didn’t get a shot, and it’s those hunts that will make you better.
You’ll just have to kill your ego long enough to glean something from your blunders. The best hunters learn from their mistakes and then adapt. Be honest about where you need to improve and give yourself a pat on the back for what you did right—because no one else will.
This time of year should be a time of reflection on last deer season. While you might turn your attention to shed hunting and winter scouting, it’s reality check time for those lofty goals you set in October. Did you tag your “target” buck? Check out that new piece of ground? How many deer did you miss? When you did drag a deer back to the truck, were you winded and gasping for air?
This last one, which pertains to your hunting fitness, should be as fundamental to deer hunting as anything else. Unfortunately, it gets neglected like most other hunting fundamentals, such as regular shooting practice, proper scouting, and general woodsmanship. Luckily, there are several months between now and the start of a new deer season. That means you have plenty of time to get into hunting shape before fall rolls around. Of course, if you put it off, along with your scouting and target practice, don’t be surprised when you achieve the same—or worse—results as last year.
You don’t have to sport washboard abs to be an effective or fit hunter, but you do need to be able to drag a deer without running the risk of a heart attack. Being physically fit won’t just help keep you alive, but it can also make you a better deer hunter. If you can walk farther, not get winded easily, and navigate steep terrain, then you’re ahead of the next guy who can’t. You’ll avoid the crowds and open yourself to more opportunities because they’re physically demanding. Whether you’re getting back into the routine or starting a new one, here are a few things to consider as you get in hunting shape for this fall.
Start with Realistic GoalsJust like hunting, everyone is at a different point in their fitness career. If you were a college athlete, it might only take you a couple weeks to get acclimated to a fitness routine. On the other hand, if you’ve never worked out a day in your life, you’ll want and need to start with the basics to avoid burnout or injury.
Most New Year’s resolutions die before February because people shoot too high and try to get fit too quickly. Start with a reasonable workout plan. Be honest about your schedule. Don’t start with a goal of working out six days per week, especially if you’re starting at ground level. Start with a manageable workload.
Maybe you decide you’re going to do three intentional, fast-paced walks every week for thirty minutes each time, which research has shown to be effective. That’s already ninety more minutes of fitness that you weren’t doing previously. Now, the goal is to increase your volume as you go, but starting here will give you a good baseline and the capability to get your training in motion. While it might seem like a matter of time in your day, hopefully, your health and fitness will become a non-negotiable part of life, as it should.
Keep It SimpleGetting in shape doesn’t have to be complicated. Structured plans do foster accountability and consistency, which are key to long-term success, but that doesn’t mean you need to join a gym to have an easier time dragging out your deer next season. If you think about what whitetail hunting requires, it’s basically walking short to long distances with weight on your back and occasionally dragging dead weight for those distances as well. You can mimic this almost anywhere with rucking.
You don’t have to buy fancy workout equipment. Load a pack that you already own with your hunting gear, or weights if you have them, and walk briskly around your property or neighborhood for anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes, depending on your current fitness level. As this becomes easier for you, pick up the pace, add weight, or increase distance. There are plenty of exercises for whitetail hunters, but this is a great starting place. It doesn’t require buying a gym membership or extra equipment, so you have no excuse not to do it.
Just Do SomethingWhile there are a range of free and subscription-based weight, resistance, and even hunting-specific training programs available, things like running or rucking just require effort. It can be intimidating to start or buy workout programs, but anything is better than sitting on the couch. If all you can do is run, then run. There’s a misconception that if you’re not getting better, you’ll just stay the same. In reality, if you’re not getting better, you’re regressing. And it only gets more challenging as you get older. Regardless of how you decide to exercise, consistency is the key, so find something and keep doing it.
I’m not saying that improving your mile time or deadlifting five hundred pounds will correlate to you killing a big buck, but it will make the grueling part of hunting easier. You’re much more likely to walk an extra half mile in the dark when you’re consistently training. Out-walking the competition becomes a no-brainer when you’re used to running several miles every week, and those long treks become mere walks in the park. If nothing, fitness will allow you to enjoy hunting more, and that’s worth something in itself.
Feature image via Captured Creative.
When it comes to buyer’s remorse, we tend to think of junk. Like paying good money for something that just doesn’t deliver on its marketing promise or maybe breaks right out of the box. Cheap hunting gear, and unfortunately some not-so-cheap hunting gear, is not immune to this frustrating issue.
There’s a sneakier and probably more damaging category of gear that should concern hunters, as well. This includes products that function just fine, but might make you a worse hunter. We often don’t see these coming but end up altering our hunting strategies because of them.
The biggest offender in this category is also one of the most coveted in the whitetail-sphere.
Boxed OutWhen my dad and I would watch hunting shows on television while I was growing up, we saw an awful lot of small-bodied, big-raked Texas bucks bite the dust. They were almost always munching on corn under a feeder, and almost always shot from a box blind. We honestly couldn’t even understand why someone would want to sit in a little wooden house and then open a window to shoot a deer. It was an alien concept.
Today, box blinds are everywhere. They’ve spread from the Lone Star State to everywhere whitetails roam. They’ve also evolved from homemade wooden structures to pre-fab, high-end blinds that carry hefty price tags.
The dream for a lot of hunters is an elevated box blind over a food plot, and it seems like that’s more achievable these days than ever. This is also a great way to become way worse at hunting deer, even if you still fill some tags.
There is nothing like the gravity of a box blind to draw hunters in, over and over. Add in the fact that there will be trail cameras focused on the area around them, and that blinds generally live in spots with major sight lines, and it’s even more likely they’ll get over-hunted. Box blinds are comfortable and can be very effective, but there’s a catch—you tend to have to rest them for them to work well.
In essence, the default strategy is to mostly always hunt from the box blind, but if you do it right, you’ll also mostly not hunt until the conditions get right. If you think you’d use one just for hunting with the kids, or maybe for all-day sits in bad weather, be careful. Easy setups offer persuasive arguments to hunters, and there’s nothing easier than climbing into a little house on a stand and waiting for deer to walk by.
Crossbows Modern crossbows are weapons that function like a gun, but produce archery-like results. The problem with this is that hunters with a scoped crossbow (that needs to be shouldered to shoot) often start to hunt like they’re carrying a gun.
This is a great way to become worse at deer hunting. Instead of carrying a mobile setup into the woods to get 17 feet up in a tree, you can just sit on a little camp chair with some camo netting. Instead of waiting until the end of shooting light, you can just sneak around for the last half hour of the day and try to shoot one that way.
A crossbow offers real advantages to someone who plans to bowhunt with it. If you buy one and feel like it’s going to offer you a hybrid hunt between gun season and archery, you’re mostly going to fail.
Bargain Duds Camo clothing all pretty much looks the same, but functionality varies a lot. If you only hunt pleasant October afternoons, this might not be an issue. If you hunt all season long, pretty much anywhere whitetails live, you’ll encounter inclement weather. Clothing that doesn’t keep you warm and dry is a liability, full stop.
Discomfort is the enemy of patience, and patience (time on stand) is what kills deer. While most folks can’t spend a couple grand to fully kit out, the right base layers and outer layers can make a huge difference in hunting success and enjoyment. A few pieces designed for the job can make up for a few pieces that are lower quality.
A lot of hunters won’t acknowledge this truth, even when they are headed back to the truck a couple hours into the morning because they are freezing. Poor clothing choices can make you a less-effective hunter, so be careful when you’re at the bargain rack looking for a new jacket. A great deal in the store might be a lost cause in the field.
For more whitetail hunting information, check these articles out: Why You Might Want To Forget About Mature Bucks And Just Hunt, Why Most Whitetail Hunters Never Kill Mature Bucks, and How To Find More Mature Buck Sheds This Winter.
Under a light snow, an infrared-equipped drone buzzes a timbered property somewhere in the Midwest heartland. The operator, Mike Yoder, watches a screen on his controller, looking for the heat signatures of deer. As the light fades, he finally narrows in on a static target in a dense pocket of brambles and trees.
It’s a monster whitetail buck—shot the previous day by a bowhunter who lost the blood trail and was unable to recover the animal. As a last-ditch effort, the hunter called Yoder’s company, Drone Deer Recovery, to employ his infrared drones in finding the deceased deer.
The YouTube video is just one of dozens produced by the company, extolling the effectiveness of their drone services in recovering dead animals, shot and fatally wounded by bowhunters.
But recently, Yoder’s company has come under scrutiny by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), who have deemed the business is in violation of the state law mandating that “An individual shall not take game or fish using an unmanned vehicle or unmanned device that uses aerodynamic forces to achieve flight.” In another statute, the law defines “take” to include collecting animals. Michigan isn’t alone in prohibiting the use of drones in hunting applications. Most states have a similar statute prohibiting their usage.
A dead buck found by one of DDR's drones. (Photo: Drone Deer Recovery)
DNR contacted Drone Deer Recovery via email in January to inform them that using drones to locate dead deer in Michigan is illegal. According to the DNR’s interpretation of the law, using drones to find already dead animals constitutes an illegal “take” of game. Violating the statue is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and 90 days in prison.
In late July, Yoder and his pro-bono lawyers from the Pacific Legal Foundation filed an official complaint with a US district court alleging that Michigan’s interpretation of the drone statute violates both the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution. The complaint argues that under the First Amendment, Yoder has the right to create and disseminate information related to the location of downed game.
Yoder also alleges that the law is unfairly applied differentially to private citizens and state organizations. The state of Michigan uses drones to conduct forest-health surveys and is looking into its potential for wildlife surveys, but it prohibits private citizens from using them in a similar capacity. “DNR can use the drones to do any kind of activity it chooses, but allows no one else to do the same,” Yoder told AgWeb Farm Journal. “Their position is ridiculous because drones can be used for the good of hunters, the state, and the overall deer population. I’m fighting for what’s right.”
On the flip side, however, allowing the use of drones in hunting-related applications has the potential to open a whole new can of worms, such as using the unmanned aircraft to scout and locate live animals. It’s a valid concern—in Deer Drone Recovery’s YouTube videos, it’s easy to spot live deer, bedded in tucked away spots where they would never be discovered by hunters.
"I get the concern with drones in the deer woods, but I think when it comes to recovery efforts they could be an incredible tool,” says Tony Peterson. “When it comes to doing our best to recover mortally hit deer, I don't think the usage of drones is too far. I think it's a savvy use for this technology, and while I think it should probably be regulated somehow, I don't think it should be banned outright because of the fear that someone might scout deer with a drone."
To address concerns, Yoder’s company will not fly drones for animals that may still be alive. Before Yoder will provide his services, a hunter must sign paperwork attesting that he believes the deer to be dead. If not, Yoder will wait a day or more before launching drones.
In the actual recovery process, Yoder flies $14,000 drones at over 400 feet above ground level—an elevation at which deer can’t even detect the sound. The drone’s cameras are capable of over 200X magnification, and conduct a search for thermal heat signatures, which are detectable in a carcass for several days after an animal’s death. The company touts the service as “more effective and reliable than tracking dogs and trail cameras,” a claim which their popular videos seem to corroborate. Yoder and his team recover dead deer buried in snow, brambles, and all manner of timber.
While the use of drones in recovering animals is relatively new—Yoder started Drone Deer Recovery in fall, 2022—it’s growing rapidly, and the company currently operates in 15 mostly-midwestern states. They’re venturing into a gray area that seems likely to be sorted out in court. As is, though, there are still some situations where the use of drones is unequivocally prohibited, such as in federal wilderness areas. National Forest lands out west could also prove an obstacle, because drones must be operated at under 400 feet—an elevation at which animals could likely detect or be spooked by the noise. Regardless, it’s a creative solution to carcass recovery, and one whose fate will likely be determined in short order.
Western hunters have the optics thing figured out. Big country will do that to you. They understand that instead of walking across a mountain basin to see what’s on the other side, it’s a hell of a lot easier to let their binos do the walking for them.
In the smaller country of the whitetail, glassing isn’t viewed the same way. Off-season hunters might post up on a beanfield to watch for bachelor groups, but you’ll find very, very few whitetail hunters who lug a spotting scope into the woods during the season.
After all, why would they? Whitetail hunting is a close-game affair, and the tight quarters where bucks call home don’t lend themselves to much in the realm of glassing. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t religiously carry, and use, binos while deer hunting. (You definitely should.)
Surprises Are No GoodIn the TV sitcom world, there is a trope that involves an introverted character who loathes attention and surprises. Guess what? Some well-meaning character always finds a reason to throw that person a surprise party, and hilarity ensues (sorry for the spoiler).
Some people love surprises, others don’t. Hunters shouldn’t. At least not when it involves a deer suddenly appearing in bow range and the mad scramble to shoot that often follows.
Sometimes it can’t be helped. During rainy or windy conditions, when you hunt super thick stuff, or during the rut when bucks can pop up out of nowhere, surprises happen. When they do, mistakes happen. The wrong pin gets used, ranges get misjudged, or often, the arrow never leaves the string because we get busted reaching for our bow. If you can glass, then you should. Even the difference between being aware of an approaching buck that’s at 60 yards, instead of 30, is a huge advantage.
While western hunters live off of blind glassing sessions where they hope to turn something up, whitetail hunters mostly only glass after they’ve seen something that catches their eye. A better strategy is to scan the woods periodically to make sure you don’t have something moving in on your setup.
Focus, For RealWestern hunters agonize over their optics choice. They know quality costs money, but quality also equals better glassing. They have to consider weight versus hunt usefulness, which is no small thing when you’re hunting an up-and-down world or one that might require you to find antelope two miles away on a shimmering prairie.
Whitetail hunters often just buy some binos and call it good. Granted, glassing the hardwoods doesn’t require glass that costs more than a semester at a state school, but quality is quality. This will also affect adjustability and glassing in low light (which is a huge consideration for whitetail hunters).
At the very least, no matter the quality of your binos, learn to use them well. Learn how to dial them in so they are focused for your eyesight, and then learn to quickly focus them so that you can scan the woods properly. Picking apart every spot around your stand or blind that allows you to see deeper into the cover, or more clearly across the CRP, is a good way to see more deer than you normally would.
Now, you might think that seeing a deer half of a mile away doesn’t do you much good when you have a 40-yard-and-under weapon, but every sighting is a gift. One that you could use to set up in a new spot tomorrow, for example.
Watch, Really WatchOne of the best reasons to glass during deer hunts is to watch whitetails do what whitetails do. The doe with two fawns in tow might not be on your hitlist, so you might not be inclined to pay that much attention when they walk through the woods. But what if they stop under a specific white oak tree to mill around for a few minutes? Or what if they dip down into a pond from a certain trail, or maybe cross the creek in a specific spot? What they can tell you is a lot, and it doesn’t pertain just to them.
The white oak or apple tree they check out might also interest bucks in your neck of the woods. And it’s far easier to decipher what they are doing, and potentially why they are doing it, if you can see them better. Glassing can put you right there with them, and that’s important.
ConclusionDon’t leave the glassing to the mule deer and elk hunters. Whitetail junkies have plenty of opportunities to use binoculars to their advantage, as well. This can keep you from getting caught snoozing when a buck approaches, and teach you what the deer really like to do when they pass through your woods, but you have to be able to use your binos correctly.
For more information on hunting with optics, check out these articles: Alaskan Lessons In Hunting Optics, Steves’s Garage: Glassing Kit, and 3 Long-Range Glassing Mistakes Whitetail Hunters Make.
Whitetails are one of the most widely spread mammals across North America. Many factors have contributed to their proliferation over the years, but none are as prominent as their ability to digest just about any plant. They possess unique salivary glands that produce enzymes that block some potentially harmful plant compounds, a unique trait among cervids. Nevertheless, there’s still a difference between what a deer can eat and what a deer should eat.
Whitetails are browsers by nature, but they can often be patterned by what their primary food source is at any given time of the year—which is driven by what their body needs for its natural function during a specific season. Moreover, a deer will seek out plants with high amounts of specific nutrients. For example, during the winter months, a mature buck recovering from a harsh rut will focus on carbohydrates before changing its diet to a more protein-based regime in the spring. All of these food categories can be broken down into browse, forbs, mast, and crops. Grasses and lichen/fungus are also part of a deer's diet but on a much less significant scale.
BrowseMost deer’s diet is browse, which consists of woody and stemmy plants such as trees, shrubs, briars, and even vine plants. I say “most” because it’s obviously based on location. A whitetail in northern Minnesota has access to a lot more browse than a deer in western Kansas.
Browse is usually high in fiber and adequately palatable. Some younger buds, leaves, and shoots are higher in nutrients than others, but the varied quality of browse is usually hedged by its consistent nature and abundance.
ForbsThe next most prevalent category is forbs, which include all herbaceous, broad-leaved plants. This is an extremely broad category that contains the largest amount of digestible plants, from clover and thistle to peas.
Forbs are extremely nutritious, with not only high protein content but also high water content. This is important to note because a whitetail gets roughly 60 to 70% of its water intake through its diet and mainly uses water sources to help regulate its body temperature.
MastMast is another major category in a whitetail’s diet but is often seasonal. Mast includes all soft or hard fruit-producing plants. Apples and berries (soft) and acorns and hickory nuts (hard) are some of the most popular examples.
Soft mast is high in starches, sugars, and major vitamins, while hard mast is packed with carbohydrates. Yields of mast-bearing trees and shrubs can vary, but there is almost nothing that beats its ability to draw deer during bumper crop years.
CropsNot everyone classifies crops as their own category, but I do. Agricultural crops such as barley, corn, soybeans, or alfalfa fall into this category. These plants overlap with other categories, true, but I believe the modern farmer plays a prominent role in the health of our herds.
The two most common crops in the Midwest are soybeans and corn. Soybeans are extremely high in protein and fats, while field corn is one of the best carbohydrates; both are extremely important to a deer's health.
As you’ll notice, a whitetail’s diet isn’t complicated, but it is vast. For hunters, this is actually a good thing because we can hone in on deer activity more accurately by keeping this information in mind. As with most big game, when you find a food source, you’re on the right track. And when it comes to our country’s most popular pursuit, we have plenty of options.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
Top-tier deer hunters are never satisfied. After interviewing hundreds of these folks on the Wired to Hunt Podcast, this stands out as one of the only rock-solid consistencies among all of these hunters. They’re constantly trying to improve, constantly trying to learn more, constantly trying to fine-tune their approach and, most certainly, their set-ups. This last example is of particular interest at this time of year as hunters race to set, prep...
The days are getting shorter and a familiar chill is in the air after the sun sets. You know the feeling; the eve of deer season is finally upon us. Even if deer season is just a few short days away, it’s not too late to hedge your bet and prepare yourself for a successful September archery hunt. Easy Does It There are still a few evenings left for you to get out and locate a target buck. Even if you only have one sighting to base your hunt plan...
If you want to play whitetail chess while your competition plays checkers, then learn to use observation stands. The idea of setting up to watch is simple enough, but it goes against our nature, and that means most folks won’t do it. When the average hunter gets the opportunity to spend a morning or evening in the deer woods, it’s not likely he’ll post up where the odds of killing are low. Most hunters filter their stand choices through the...
As a hunter living in the United States, we are truly blessed by the recreation opportunities public land provides us. It’s a privilege we shouldn’t take for granted. As wonderful as it is, attempting to tag a mature whitetail on public land can certainly be humbling. However, by adapting to your surroundings and being prepared for specific difficult situations you may face, you’ll undoubtedly become a better whitetail hunter. Whether you’re...
One of my good friends works in insurance, and if he can’t sell you something, no one can. He just has a gift for small talk and befriending people. I’m the exact opposite. I would rather never talk to strangers, and if I’m forced into a small-talk-type situation, I spend most of it fantasizing about being somewhere else. As you can imagine, my buddy finds places to hunt fairly often. It’s more of a struggle for me, which is why early in August I...
Access is everything. This refrain is uttered a billion times a year in the whitetail-sphere. Often, by the most prominent and accomplished voices in the space. Do you know why? Because it’s true. If you don’t think through how you get into, and out of, your stand sites, then you have problems. Period. While it’s highly dependent on your local terrain, there are some features of the landscape that are ubiquitous across the whitetail’s range...
Whether you’re dealing with over-the-counter elk out West, or whitetails back East, the main public land strategy has been to get as far away from easy access as possible. This works, until it doesn’t. Out west, the outfitter with the horses can walk you down without even trying. This makes those dreamy elk drainages that are located seven miles deep, just as accessible as the aspen shoots right above the trailhead. With whitetails, this task is...
Nothing beats actual observation when it comes to developing a pattern on a specific buck. Trail camera images and videos are a distant second, and definitely worth the effort. But, if you want to learn about what deer actually like to do, there’s nothing better than seeing it with your own two eyes. This is a task that seems easy enough. Just grab your spotting scope and your binoculars, post up on a field, and wait. The truth is, it can be that...
As the first half of summer tips over to the second half, the value of trail camera images changes. June and July are for gathering inventory. From now until the opener, the job is to identify real patterns and figure out how to hunt them. This involves more than leaving a few cameras on destination food sources and calling that good enough. Instead, think about using your digital scouters to pin down specifics on whitetail movement, even when...
For many long-time hunters, the words "Quality Deer Management Association" brings to mind images of big giant bucks, exclusive hunting leases, and John Deere tractors planting lush green fields. That organization, while undoubtedly effective at educating hunters about deer and land management, garnered an image of catering only to private landowners to the exclusion of the Average Joe deer hunter. But now, to the surprise of many (and...
There is so much that can be argued over in the world of bowhunting whitetails. Fast arrows vs. energy-laden heavy shafts. Mechanicals vs. fixed-blades. Single-bevel vs. double-bevel. There’s one thing that can’t be argued: There is nothing that makes more of a difference in the quick, efficient killing of a critter than shot placement. Truth be told, you can drill a field point into both lungs of the biggest whitetail and that deer will tip over...
There is nothing more important to a land manager than understanding what kind of soil you’re working with. Researching the soil types of your property can be done in multiple ways, some more in-depth than others. The easiest way is to use the USDA Web Soil Survey. It’s an online soil database that covers roughly 95% of the country's soil, and you can have a map of your soil types in a matter of minutes. It’s very important to note that this...
Organization. Unfortunately, it's not something that comes naturally to me, but when it comes to sneaking in tight to a buck's core area, I've learned the hard way being unorganized isn't an option. When mobile hunting, having a well-thought-out approach to packing your gear is the foundation for success in the woods. Let's look at four guys who have fine-tuned their packs through years of trial and error and have come to a process that works for...
There’s an obvious answer to the problem of whiffing from a stand or a saddle, and I’ll get to that later. First, I want to address a few of the issues we run into when we get 15 or 20 feet up in a tree, and then try to shoot a deer. The first is, angles matter. The steeper the shot angle, the smaller your margin for error. Think of it this way: if you’re as far up as your tow rope can reach, and you shoot at a deer standing a few years from your...
The task of finding a target buck looks so simple. Just run a few cameras, spend some nights behind a spotter, and that’s pretty much it. The problem with this is that much of the advice comes from people who hunt big chunks of private ground. If you’re the sole bowhunter on a section of primo deer dirt, then finding a target buck (or several) isn’t too heavy of a lift. You know no one is going to mess with the bucks’ patterns, and they are very...
If you take the whitetail’s range into account, there are hundreds of food sources available. This spectrum covers the biggies like different types of agriculture, all the way to here-today-gone-tomorrow browse. Western river-bottom deer might not eat a single thing that their eastern or southern cousins fill their bellies with, yet the crossover diet with midwestern whitetails might be high. This is why it’s best to start with a categorical...
The trail cam game used to be such an easy one to play. Placements were simple, obvious, and prolific photographic producers—simply establish a mineral site and await the glut of images that would follow. As autumn colors developed, you moved onto active scrapes—even those along field edges—to hang and inventory just about every buck in the neighborhood. You hung the camera waist-high, paying attention to avoid the western and eastern horizons to...
I boarded the plane from Michigan to Washington State with my bow case in the cargo bay and a battered ego in tow. I was coming off one of my toughest hunting seasons to date, one in which I’d put a bad hit on a doe and missed a giant buck a month later. Now I was in search of solutions. My destination was a day-long boot camp with noted archery instructor and Shot IQ founder, Joel Turner. Turner has become well-known in the archery and hunting...
Whether seeking accuracy, penetration, violent expansion, or maximum effective range, experienced hunters know what kind of performance they want out of a deer bullet and stockpile that ammo with unwavering confidence. For new hunters, or those looking to squeeze out every ounce of performance in their new deer rifle, bullet selection can go a long way. Study the characteristics of different bullet designs and choose the one that best suits your...
The search for a hunting lease can be a treacherous one. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of a property’s potential, only to have reality crash down on you when the deal is set in ink. And, with summer in full swing, the time is ripe for property picking. With that in mind, here are a few questions you can ask yourself to help in your search and make sure you’re not stepping into something you’re going to regret. Write them down...
Trail cameras have replaced the traditional summer scouting method of sitting behind a spotting scope for as many nights as possible. Some whitetail hunters do still glass food sources to dial in bachelor group patterns, but most deer hunters are keeping tabs via 24/7 digital scouters. This seems like a win. Trail cameras are mostly passive intel gatherers. Once you put them out, they work while you play. The value is obvious but often doesn’t...
The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was a video from the Archery Trade Association show this past winter announcing a new livestream-enabled cell camera. The excited brand representative laid out a scenario in which a hunter gets a text message on their phone with a photo of a big buck stepping in front of their camera. From here, he exclaimed, the hunter could pull up the camera app and hit the “Live” button. Now this hunter could watch...
The term “thermal cover” is thrown around in the whitetail world almost as often as the term “food plot.” Cedar patches, pockets of spruce, and fields of warm-season grasses all come to a hunter's mind. But understanding the process and science behind what thermal cover truly is, will help you to better manage and improve your land. What is Thermal Cover? Just like every day since the start of time, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west...
Options are your friend when it comes to whitetail spots. The smaller the property, the more limited your setups are (and the more you’ll probably struggle). This is a malady that affects an awful lot of deer hunters, but it doesn’t need to be so prevalent. Some of this is just due to laziness on our part. Finding a new spot can be a pain, so it’s easier to default to a tried and true property. Part of it is also comfort, as well. It’s much...
Hunters and anglers like to talk a big game about being some of the original and most impactful conservationists. Some even go so far as to say that their pursuit is conservation. In a lot of ways, they’re right. For generations, our community has done incredible work for conservation. But what does that mean for us as hunters and anglers today? If we want to claim this mantle of “conservationist,” we need to answer a few questions. What’s...
It probably doesn’t seem like there is a compelling parallel between the stock market and whitetail hunting. But, when it comes to nonresident tags, there is. It’s the difference between price and value or supply and demand. Newcomers to the deer-tag stock market—at least anyone looking to buy individual equities to hit it big on a 10-pointer—focus heavily on price. The cheaper the tag, they reason, the better the value. However, there is an...
It’s not hard to find plenty of people willing to recount tales of their amazing deer hunting trips to Iowa, Kansas, or wherever. And if there ever was a way to catch a serious case of whitetail FOMO, it would be listening to hunters talk about their deer travels. While hearing about someone else’s trip can prove to be a powerful motivator to plan one of your own, be advised—you’re likely hearing a polished, best-version-ever retelling of their hunt.
This version will leave out most of the boring stuff. It’ll omit most of the mistakes, and most definitely won’t include the level of detail needed to make a hunt happen without a hitch. This is the real danger here, and if you’ve never traveled somewhere to hunt, it’s a big concern. There are mistakes to be made, some of which could ruin an entire week of rut-cation, or tank the whole hunt before it even has a chance to happen. The biggest offender here is the availability of licenses and exactly what they allow you to hunt, and when.
Understanding Nonresident TagsWhitetail licenses are generally easier to come by than western big game licenses, but the gap between the two is closing. In many states, you won’t be able to just go online and buy a whitetail tag two weeks before you plan to hunt. Some states require you to enter a lottery, with spring or early-summer application deadlines. Most of those states also operate on a point system, which means you might not know if you’ll get drawn in any given year. It all hinges on tag allocations (supply) and how many hunters apply (demand).
Whether you have your heart set on a once-in-a-lifetime Iowa hunt, or maybe you want to head to Kentucky in September to try for a velvet trophy, you need to take a deep dive into the state’s regulations around licensing. Then, you need to understand that the process will be different from your home state. This goes for simply buying a license, of course, but also how you tag your deer, and what your license is actually good for deer-wise. No two states are alike in this capacity, so don’t assume anything will be like what you’re used to at home because it won’t be.
Tricky TimingIn some states, you might be able to hunt all season, right along with the residents. In others, you might not get to start when they do, or you might not be able to hunt public land for the entire season. You might be able to hunt private land just fine, but not state land during certain parts of the season. It’s a mistake to purchase a nonresident tag and just assume that you’re good to go for the first week of November. You need to know that long before you load up the truck.
Don’t just focus on the deer season that you fit into, because there is often overlap with other seasons. Some will just make your hunt miserable by putting extra people in the woods, but others are set up to cater to residents first, meaning you might not even be able to hunt legally. Again, due diligence on this front is your friend. Pay attention to youth seasons, small game or upland openers, early antlerless seasons, and anything that might interfere with your hunt.
Trophy Hunts Are RareMost people don’t travel to shoot spikes, but they also don’t understand how hard it is to kill a mature buck on the road. Plenty of good hunters eat tags in dreamy states like Iowa or Illinois. Despite the publicity and the reputation of so many different states, the reality of killing mature bucks is that it’s often orders of magnitude more difficult than we envision.
It’s almost a rite of passage to head out on your first over-the-road trip with unrealistic expectations. Think of it this way—you might be heading to one of the best whitetail states in the country. But you might also be hunting public land during the rut, when there are more people out hunting than at any other time of the season.
You might also plan your trip around what you think is perfect timing, only to have to hunt through a week of rain or 75-degree days. You might just pick a spot or a region that just doesn’t offer up the quality you think should be there, or doesn’t really jive with your personal hunting style.
Wherever you choose to go, plan for achievable goals, and keep an open mind. If the hunting is far more difficult than you imagined, adjust accordingly. Keep your focus, at least partially, on the experience of hunting a new place. This is the best part of traveling to get a whitetail fix, and if you pair that with realistic standards, you’re likely to have a hell of a lot of fun no matter how full your cooler is at the end of the week.
_If you want to read more about traveling to hunt whitetails, check out these articles: How K.C. Smith Kills Whitetails In New States, Ask Wired To Hunt: Are The Premier Whitetail States Overrated?, and Pulling Off An Out-Of-State Whitetail Trip For Less Than $1000. _
The sound of falling acorns crashing into the forest floor is music to any hunter's ears. These small-but-powerful fruits can be one of the hottest primary food sources readily available throughout hunting season. Oak trees are extremely hearty, can be found throughout all of North America, and are generally broken down into two families, white oaks and red oaks. However, all oak trees are not created equal, and by doing a quick investigation on the oaks in your hunting area, you’ll have better intel on when and how to hunt certain areas.
Easy IdentificationThe easiest way to identify the family of an oak tree is by inspecting its leaf. The red oak family has sharp or edged lobes, while the white oak family has rounded lobes. A secondary method is examining the bark. The bark of a red oak is much smoother and has much shallower furrows than that of the rough-barked white oak.
There are over 90 species of oaks in the continental US, so I’d suggest using a tree identification guide to help you dial in the exact species, if you’re interested. But in most cases, knowing the family of oak should suffice.
AcornsBoth oak families drop acorns every fall, but the process is quite different. The acorns of the white oak family mature in six to seven months, meaning they flower in the spring and drop when they mature in the fall. Later springs can force a tree to flower later, making it drop its acorns later. However, this seems to vary increasingly the farther north you are.
Even though white oaks produce acorns annually, they usually cycle and produce a bumper crop every other season. The white oak acorn is much more palatable than the red oak, causing them to be of much higher priority to deer.
But the red oak family produces acorns every fall as well. The maturing process, however, takes triple the time. Moreover, red oak will produce flowers in the spring but will hold the fruits until the following fall, roughly about 17 to 19 months. A red oak tree can hold two seasons of crops at a time, which can lead to much more variance in mast production and maturity. The red oak acorn is more acidic, causing it to have a much more bitter taste than the white oak, even though they have very similar nutrient values.
When and How to Hunt OaksThe strategy of hunting oaks seems simple but can change from year to year. Furthermore, clusters of oaks in your hunting area can have adjacent crop productions. Since white oaks produce the preferred acorn of the whitetail deer, they seem to be more commonly hunted, and rightly so. In most areas of the Midwest, white oaks drop their acorns first and fairly quickly—a majority dropping in a one- to two-week span. Finding an oak cluster that is producing a bumper crop is one of the greatest finds a hunter can discover. This often requires you to hunt mobile or have a host of treestand locations.
In Wisconsin, where public land is abundant, I often walked into a totally new parcel with my stand on my back not knowing where I was going to set up. I'd use intel from e-scouting and then would scour the woods until I found the ideal stand of white oaks. When I found them, they were almost always loaded with fresh pre-rut rubs and scrapes. Using your scouting app, set up between the oaks and the projected bedding area, using the wind in your favor. It doesn't always lead to the ideal tree, but this high-risk/high-reward strategy has paid off a handful of times. It’s my main tactic from about October 20 to the first week of November throughout the Midwest.
Hunting red oaks is less common for the average hunter, but I believe it is an underutilized tactic. Yes, the red oak is less of a priority for deer when there is an abundance of white oaks and other food sources nearby, but in areas with few white oaks or an underperforming year of mast production by white oaks, the red oaks can be dynamite.
Many factors can lead to hot feeds on red oaks. As fall progresses, white oak acorns will be cleaned up by various wildlife, agricultural fields will be harvested, and green plants and foliage will die off due to frost and snow, leaving the red oak acorns ripe for the picking. Use the same tactic as explained before and you might just find yourself nocking a late-season arrow. This is a great tactic to save until after Thanksgiving to the end of the season. Even on heavy-yield white acorn seasons, deer will still travel through and use red oaks as a transitional browsing area.
Consequently, the red oaks might not be the final destination, but deer will often congregate through them on the way to another food source or bedding area. In October, mature bucks often move to the primary food source much later in the evening than other deer and this can often make them seem nocturnal. By hunting closer to the bedding area and using a patch of oaks as a food-source funnel, you can catch a shooter on his feet before shooting light closes.
Next time you take a walk through your woods and do some investigating on what trees your property has to offer. One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen hunters make is being stagnant, not scouting their property on a yearly basis, and hunting the same three trees year after year. By better understanding your mast-bearing trees and learning how they can affect deer movement, you will gain invaluable intel on the elusive whitetail buck. Find the acorns and you'll find the deer.
Imagine a world in which your favorite hunting spot is sold off and covered with condominiums. I mean it. Close your eyes for a moment and imagine this scenario. See your place, hear it, smell it. Now imagine a condo over there and there and there. How does that make you feel?
Then, picture your favorite stretch of river or local lake choked out by a toxic algal bloom or slick with oil. Envision a future hike with your son or daughter and say to them, “Back when I was your age there used to be deer and grouse here. I wish you could have seen it.”
How do we ensure that some version of this imagined reality never comes to be? How do we fight back when the next batch of bad news inevitably knocks on the front door?
Quality habitat, open spaces, public access, well-managed wildlife populations, the right to hunt and fish, clean air and water—all of these are all critical to the outdoor way of life that we cherish. They’re also perpetually at risk. “Those crucial ingredients of any good day afield do not exist by accident,” Ben Long writes in his book “Hunter and Angler: Field Guide to Raisin’ Hell.” “They depend on conservation. And conservation depends on politics.”
Let’s face it, people of our kind tend to run away from politics. But, as I discussed recently with Ben on a Wired to Hunt podcast, this is a mistake. “If we want fish and wildlife to remain both abundant and available, we need to flex the political muscles granted in the U.S. Constitution,” he told me.
But how do we actually do that and do it well? That’s the question I recently posed to Ben and two other conservation professionals who have made it their life’s work to effectively use the political process to ensure a better future for hunting, angling, wildlife, and wild places. Their advice is a playbook for how we as individuals (or as collectives) can successfully raise hell for hunting and fishing and a how-to guide for ensuring we never have to tell our children that we wished they could have seen it “back then.”
Fine-Tune Your Voice “The single most powerful tool that someone has in conservation is their voice,” says Lukas Leaf, executive director of Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters. Speaking up, speaking out, and making your position known are critical to any successful conservation campaign. But it’s also easier said than done. “Conservation advocacy is unique in that it is critical that you cater your approach to the specific issue you are working on and the audience you’re speaking to,” he said.
When advocating for your issue to a decision maker—be it a senator or a fish-and-game commission—through a phone call, in-person testimony, or in a letter, Leaf recommends leading with a personal connection to the issue at hand. “Always express why something is important to you. The personal angle goes a long way. Tell the legislator why you’re calling and why you personally support or are against what you’re calling about,” he said. I’ve been told by multiple professionals in this space that one personal email or phone call is worth ten templated letters or pre-scripted calls.
It’s also important to frame your request to a decision-maker in a way that speaks to their own values or interests. If you can find common ground or a connection between your issue and their stated positions, you’ll have a better chance of them considering your suggestions.
Finally, avoid the temptation to get angry or overly emotional. This will simply lead to your audience tuning you out. “There’s no reason to beat down a legislator when you make a call, sit in on a meeting, or sign an online action. That only creates more division on the issue,” Leaf said. “It’s all about finding common ground that both parties can relate to and then just having a civil conversation.”
By rallying the sporting community to use their voices in this way and by showcasing how real people value a pristine and protected Boundary Waters Wilderness, Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters and its partners were able to defeat the threat of a copper-nickel mine on the border of the BWCA when a twenty-year moratorium on mining adjacent to the BWCA was announced. This news was proof that our voices, when used effectively, can still make a difference.
Be Laser-FocusedWhether as an individual or as part of a conservation organization, it can be tempting to take on every new issue or threat that appears on the horizon. And there is certainly no shortage of those. But as the old saying goes, if you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll end up being nothing to anyone.
The more effective approach, Captains for Clean Water Co-Founder Chris Wittman says, is to “remain laser-focused on an objective or a limited amount of objectives that are going to provide the greatest benefit to whatever your issue or cause is. You can hypothetically chime in on hundreds of things but the impact of that, as an organization, is that it dilutes your resources, it dilutes your messaging, it dilutes the understanding from your audience of what you do or what’s important.”
Something similar could be said for an individual, too. Doing a little bit for a dozen different conservation issues or organizations might end up being less effective than picking the two or three causes you’re most passionate about and doubling down on those with a larger investment of your time, energy, and resources.
This focus on doubling down on an issue and committing to a comprehensive understanding is what separates the best individual advocates from the average, says Wittman. “The people who are most effective at getting involved and bringing more people in through a grassroots network are those who have invested time to have a better understanding of the problems and the solutions, so they can speak from an educated point of view to others,” he says. This is simply not possible unless you prioritize your time and focus your efforts in those few places that matter most to you.
This hyper-focus on a core issue, in this case educating and activating the public around Everglades restoration, has led to Captains for Clean Water having an outsized influence on water quality issues across Florida. Their success, in collaboration with their partners, has led to historic momentum for Everglades restoration, securing hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal funding for CERP projects, and the defeat of the bad-for-water SB 2508. If you want to have meaningful influence as an advocate, consider a focused approach to how you use your voice, develop your expertise, and exert your social capital.
Build Coalitions“There are roughly 50 million people who hunt and fish in the U.S. But there are 330 million people in the U.S.,” Ben Long writes in his aforementioned book. “It’s pretty simple math. In a democracy, hunters and anglers don’t have the numbers to win alone. We have to work with others, we have to build alliances.”
In other words, if you want to win a political fight in defense of hunting or fishing or wildlife or public lands—yes, of course, rally your fellow hunters and anglers—but also consider building a bigger team. Fortunately, there is no shortage of potential teammates if you’re willing to look outside of our immediate communities and extend an invitation to others with shared interests—hikers, bikers, boaters, bird watchers, small businesses in tourist communities, the list could go on and on. We might not agree on everything, but if we can look past our differences and focus on our shared cause, we can achieve more.
This philosophy of coalition building is as important at the organizational level as it is at the personal. If you’re involved with a conservation organization, you’ll harness exponentially more power by partnering with other groups. And as an individual, if there’s a cause you care about, the quickest way to get an official or decision-maker to listen is to come to the table with diverse parties sharing the same concerns. A state representative will be far more likely to take note of a request if it’s echoed by a hunter, a small business person, and a mountain biker together rather than in isolation.
A perfect example of this was the years-long push to ensure the future of the Land and Water Conservation Fund(LWCF), a program that funnels a portion of royalties from offshore oil and gas development to pay for public land acquisitions in the form of parks, access sites, wildlife habitat, and more. It’s a program that benefits everyone from urban families to hunters and anglers.
Through his work at Resource Media as a journalist and with Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Ben Long successfully helped educate and rally a wide coalition in support of the LWCF. “When you cut away the ideological rhetoric, LWCF provides very real benefits for everyone, from city parks to multiple-use, public land purchases,” Long said. “So it generated such broad-scale support that elected officials raced to get to the front of the parade.” The end result was the reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund in 2019 and the securing of full funding, in perpetuity, as of 2020.
For more actionable advice for becoming a more effective conservation advocate, tune in to Wired to Hunt Podcast Ep. 651: How to Raise Hell for Hunting, Fishing, Wildlife, and Wild Places with Ben Long
It took me nearly four full seasons of bowhunting to kill my first deer. That clueless button buck, a gift of a deer in late December in Minnesota, changed the arc of my hunting career. He represented a lot of things to me, but most importantly, he showed me that it could be done. Until I walked up to him lying in the snow, I didn’t fully believe it.
You might not either if you’re struggling to get your first deer with a bow. It’s not easy, even though there are plenty of folks who make it seem like it is. It’s not. And there’s no shame in struggling. There’s also no shame in calibrating your standards to increase your odds of filling a tag, literally any tag.
Low-Bar HuntingOther people’s standards need not apply when you’re trying to arrow your first deer. While it’s a personal journey and up to you to set your standards, I’d argue that you should set the bar so low a turtle can clear it. If any deer—fawn, doe, or buck—is fair game, then your chances of success are as high as they can be.
If you don’t want to shoot a fawn, doe, or young buck, that’s up to you. But know that when you set those high standards, your chances of success go way down. Your learning curve ramps way up, as well. This is because you’ll get fewer chances to try to draw and shoot, so you’ll have fewer chances to get better when it counts the most.
Focus On The Food & WaterThere are a lot of strategies for hunting deer that range from sitting destination food sources, to hunting specific buck beds, to camping out on a promising terrain trap for days on end. The newbie looking to bloody his or her knife for the first time would be well served to keep things simple.
Focus on deer food and water sources. This goes for private land hunters, as well as public land hunters. There are constants in a deer’s world, and they revolve around avoiding predation at all costs but also getting enough calories and water to survive.
While this can be considered dumbed-down deer hunting, it also works. Deer eat soybeans, and if you just want to kill a deer with your bow, sitting on the edge of a beanfield is a pretty good idea. Deer also need to drink every day. Setting up a stand or a blind on a pond in the woods or at the top of a wooded draw is another no-brainer. You might not encounter Booner bucks with any level of frequency on these spots, especially if you’re hunting where there’s plenty of pressure, but you should encounter deer, which is the goal.
Forget The Gimmicks It can be frustrating to struggle to kill your first deer. This leads us to impulse purchases of decoys, scents, calls, and anything that promises success. Forget all of these things and instead focus on setting up downwind of places deer like to walk. Let them come to you, don’t force the issue.
This is the foundation of good hunters everywhere, and it’s a skill that will help you throughout an entire lifetime of whitetail hunting. The get-rich-quick stuff can come later, but for now, consider it your job to scout enough to understand where deer are likely to walk. Then pay attention to your setups and how the deer react to them.
If you constantly get busted, ask yourself why. Is your stand too low, or maybe you’re silhouetted in such a way the deer easily see you moving? Is the wind swirling more than you think, or maybe you’re hunting your setups when the wind is wrong? If you identify where deer like to go, like those food and water sources I mentioned earlier, the next step is to figure out how to hunt them correctly on those spots.
This is an art, but the good news is that if you have lower standards, you can make mistakes and still earn shots. A forky might let you draw on him without bolting, unlike a mature doe or buck. A year-and-a-half-old doe might see you in a natural ground blind and approach for a closer look, which might give you a shot. An older deer probably won’t.
So drop those standards, hunt the easy spots, and forget about the get-rich-quick products. Learn to hunt deer, all deer, first. If you do, a whitetail is bound to pose up at 20 yards for you, and just maybe, everything will go your way.
Then you’ll go from a deer hunter to a deer killer, just like that.
For more deer hunting info, check out these articles: Why I Love To Shoot Young Bucks, To Kill A Doe, and Where To Shoot A Deer.
It’s long been preached that there are no silver bullets when it comes to improving wildlife habitat. There are no shortcuts, no end-around, no one-size-fits-all fixes.
But what if I told you there was an exception?
There is one silver bullet for wildlife habitat management. One concept that is applicable everywhere from Maine to Montana to Mississippi. There’s one approach that will help deer and turkeys, birds and bees, bugs and frogs and turtles, and well, you name it. The secret is found within one simple word and all that it brings with it. Diversity.
Why Diversity MattersTo understand the value of diversity in habitats, it helps first to consider what happens in the absence of it. The opposite of a diverse landscape is a monoculture. A field of corn. A pine plantation. A yard full of fescue. Monocultures represent a uniform landscape devoid of vegetative diversity. And what do all of these monotonous landscapes have in common? A lack of wildlife on any consistent basis.
It’s worth noting that monocultures, or close approximations of them, are a man-made phenomenon. Mother Earth almost always favors diversity. With this universal law of the natural world in mind, if you want a great hunting property that’s home to thriving wildlife populations the obvious course of action is to exchange monotony on the landscape for diversity. In other words, create some disruption, change things up, inject chaos, and add new ingredients to the mix.
“To optimize wildlife diversity,” Mike Porter and Will Moseley of the Nobel Research Institute wrote, “a manager should develop and maintain as many different plant communities as the soils, water, climate, and terrain allow.”
Studies have shown that, as a general rule, increases in vegetative and habitat diversity lead to increased habitat value for wildlife. This positive relationship between habitat diversity and wildlife use can be seen across a host of different species.
Diversity for Deer, Turkeys, Grouse, and MoreWhitetail deer, for example, are a foraging species that crave and seek out diversity in their diet. According to one report from Mississippi State University, deer have been recorded eating up to 400 different species of plants in the Southeast alone. “Diet selection changes in response to seasonal changes in forage abundance, quality, and metabolic needs of the animal. Deer eat a variety of food types, including browse (leafy parts of woody plants), forbes (herbaceous broad-leaved plants, including agricultural crops), hard and soft mast (seeds), grass, and mushrooms/lichens,” the report states. The more habitat types and high-quality forage options you can offer whitetails, the more likely they’ll be to spend time in your area.
Not only is diversity in food important for deer but also in cover and structure for bedding and travel. Whitetails are edge creatures, being attracted to any area where two or more habitat types come together. Per the University of Missouri Extension office, “strategies that create a mixture of plant successional communities also improve white-tailed deer habitat. Diversity is the key.” The more diversity in vegetation, the more edge there will be and the more options for relative quality in bedding and travel. All of this makes for better and more predictable hunting opportunities as well, and not just for deer.
“Good, diverse forest cover is extremely important for ruffed grouse habitat,” notes Jon Steigerwaldt, forest conservation director for the Ruffed Grouse Society. “Birds will utilize different age classes of timber at different times of the year. For example, ‘brushier’ habitat found in younger forests act as a roof to shield ruffed grouse from avian and other predators.”
This attraction to diversity holds true not just for upland birds but turkeys as well. One report from the Michigan DNR states that, “the ideal habitat mix is 20% to 30% bottomland hardwoods, 10% to 30% mature oaks, 5% to 10% conifers, 10% to 15% shrubs, 20% to 30% croplands, and 15% to 25% grasslands, clover pastures or idled fields.” In other words, the ideal habitat mix for turkeys is diverse. This rule holds true for just about any other wild game animal, small mammal, bug, or bird you can think of.
Adding Diversity to Your PropertyWith this in mind, how can you add wildlife-focused diversity to your property?
Diversity in the TimberMonoculture or even-aged timber stands quickly lose their wildlife value as sunlight to the understory is shut out by mature tree canopies and deer-level plants, grasses, and shrubs die off. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to get sunlight and diversity back into your forests. Small scattered clear cuts, select-cut thinning, and hinge-cuts can all create new diverse pockets of sunlight-craving vegetation while also creating new edges and structures inside a forest.
We recently addressed this very issue in an eight-acre plot of mature pine and hemlock trees at my family deer camp. For decades, no sunlight has reached the ground, leading to a lack of any forest floor understory and, in turn, a lack of deer and other critters. With this problem in mind, we recently brought in a logger to cut three small, eighth-acre pocket openings, leaving the treetops on the ground for cover, and another eighth-acre, micro-food plot. What was once eight acres of wildlife desert is now a diverse forest filled with structure, scattered sunlight-filled openings, and a small but attractive food source.
Diversity in Old FieldsOld fields can come in the form of livestock pasture, neglected crop fields, or weedy areas too wet for traditional farming practices. If left alone, these open areas can sometimes be taken over by invasive plants like marestail or fescue and quickly become a near monoculture of low wildlife value. But, if managed properly, old fields can be a wildlife paradise.
Strategies for diverse, high-quality wildlife habitat in this kind of area can include:
- Planting blended mixes of native warm-season grasses, forbes, and wildflowers.
- Planting scattered fruit or mast trees.
- Managing succession levels throughout the old fields at different rates via mowing, burning, herbicide, or mechanical disturbance to ensure varied vegetation types and ages across the field.
Diversity in Food PlotsAdding food plots to a property lacking quality food adds diversity and a new edge right out the gate, but one can do even better by ensuring the forage planted in those plots is diverse as well. By planting a blend of plant types rather than a single monoculture, your plots are more likely to withstand difficult growing conditions and are more likely to attract deer over the entirety of the year.
Not only that, but by planting diverse blends you’ll often find that certain plant species will benefit neighboring species by adding nitrogen to the soil, creating new organic material, or suppressing weeds. Planting diverse food plots can also reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and herbicides. In short, blended plots are more attractive, more resilient, and more affordable.
Few things are simple in the world of land management, but this is. Make your property as varied, multi-faceted, and diverse as possible and you’ll enjoy healthier wildlife populations and better hunting. So what are you waiting for?
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
Pick an archery range in a populated area and then head there about three weeks before your state’s deer season opens up. You’ll see folks who can hit a golf ball at 40 yards consistently and others who can’t hit a four-foot-square bale blind with half a dozen arrows.
The folks in the latter category have problems and probably shouldn’t head to the woods until they get their act together. They also, almost to a person, are shooting bows that aren’t set up correctly, which is a big problem, particularly for beginners.
Hand-me-down bows, garage-sale finds, and just poor setups likely due to equally poor setup advice all account for some of the least accurate shooters you’ll see. On the surface, this might seem like an argument for starting out with a new, high-quality (more expensive) rig, but it’s not.
Cost is a consideration, but a high price tag alone does not make an accurate archer.
Sticker Shock?It’s rare for people to shop for their first bow while looking to spend flagship-bow money. This makes sense because they don’t know if they’re beginning a lifelong journey as an archery hunter or just trying something out that might not stick after a season or two.
Because of this, it’s common to seek out a used bow or a freebie. There’s nothing wrong with either category, but they have to fit you as a shooter. This is non-negotiable if you want to hit your target.
Spending mid-level money for a bow that is somewhat new and highly adjustable is a safer route. It’s not necessary (neither is splurging on a $1300 barebow), but it’s a good hedge against trying to shoot something that just doesn’t work for you. It all boils down to fit and feel.
First-Timer ConsiderationsBefore you buy a bow, go to your local pro shop. Have them measure your draw length and then have them walk you through shooting a few different models. Ask them what the draw weights are on the models you shoot.
Those two numbers, draw length and manageable draw weight, are the foundations of accurate shooting. If you opt for a bow that isn’t set up to your draw length, you won’t shoot as well, won’t enjoy shooting as much, and you might find yourself gun-shy if your new rig gives your wrist a welt.
Too much poundage, which is the curse of men because we can’t get out of the way of our own egos, is bad as well. You want to shoot a bow that is comfortable to draw, easy to hold at full draw, and doesn’t threaten to rip your shoulder from its socket.
Before buying a bow, figure out your exact draw length and a comfortable draw weight.
Simple Setups Are BestWhile drop-away rests and movable sights are awesome options for experienced shooters, simplicity is key for beginners. A static, whisker-biscuit style rest and a simple three-pin sight should do it. The less that can go wrong or change during shooting sessions, the better.
If you’re shopping for your first bow, look for a bow that is easy to use and understand. This might seem like you’re dumbing down your setup for no good reason, but there actually is a good reason. An easy-to-shoot bow that is set to your specs and is outfitted with reliably simple accessories will allow you the chance to shoot comfortably and confidently.
This is important. You want to think about your form and your shot execution. You want to have fun while shooting tighter and tighter groups. That’s about it.
Now, if you think a rig like that won’t kill like a high-end setup with all the bells and whistles, you’re wrong. The bows we shot 25 years ago versus something created in the last decade would be like driving a Model T versus a new Porsche.
But you know what? When we managed to hold our brass pin where it needed to be, our aluminum arrows found the target and went all the way through even the biggest deer. Today’s bows are significantly more efficient, so even a cheaper, simpler setup is going to be plenty powerful in the deer woods, considering what we used to shoot.
ConclusionFocus on price as well as compatibility with your personal shooting needs. Enlist the help of a pro shop, learn your basic specs, and then keep it simple. If you do, you might arrow your first deer this season and also find yourself in the lifelong-bowhunter category before you know it.
For more archery advice, check out these articles: Has Compound Bow Technology Peaked? The Best Time To Upgrade Your Bow, and The Best Archery Advice I’ve Ever Gotten.
The food plot is one of the most utilized, yet perilous, land management techniques used by landowners and land managers alike. At its pinnacle, it's a multi-species food source beneficial to the resident animals, but can simultaneously be used as a strategic chess move by the hunter. At its very worst, it is a bare patch of dirt.
Creating the perfect food plot for your property is often a complex and time-consuming chore, where research and extensive planning are often overlooked. In this article, I hope to help you set up a new train of thought when deciding whether or not to add a food plot to your property. And I will say, each parcel of land is extremely unique, and you need to use this thought process to do what's most beneficial for your goals and your specific piece of land. There is no cookie-cutter formula.
Size-Up Your Property (And Your Neighbor’s)The very first thing I ask myself when looking to add a food plot to a property is, “Is this area lacking food sources?” When taking this into consideration, I often take a bird’s eye view of the property and the surrounding area and also use previous knowledge of the land. Some areas, like large rolling agriculture plains, might not be as desperate for an additional food source as a piece of land nestled into the big north woods.
I’ll also ask myself, “Is a food plot really the best option?” Consider that common forestry practices can add large amounts of forage and bedding to your property, but can also be tricky to thread an arrow through.
Moreover, in smaller parcel areas, it seems that planting food plots can turn into an arms race when doing the exact opposite can be more effective. If you know your neighbors are all cultivating their land and basing their land management strategy on increasing food sources, you could reach your property's potential by providing bedding areas. Both of these management practices work well concurrently, but not every parcel has the ability or size to provide both. I’m definitely not advocating against putting in a new food plot, but I just want you to know that there are other options and strategies.
Feed Plot or Kill Plot?The second thing I think about when aspiring to add a food plot to a particular piece of land is, “What is the specific goal for this plot?” I categorize my food plots into two types, feed plots and kill plots. Both are similar but have different priorities.
A feed plot prioritizes adding a large amount of food to an area, usually a track larger than five acres, with strategic hunting as its secondary focus. I’m not saying these can’t be hunted, but just the sheer volume of land these plots hold makes them a bit trickier to hunt. I’ll often hunt the major transition trails between these plots and the bedding areas, usually around 50 to 100 yards off the field's edge. Generally speaking, only a few trails lead out of the major bedding areas toward the food sources and tend to branch out the closer they get to the plot. So by hunting a distance from the plot, it increases your chances of success, not to mention earlier movement, which can be crucial in sending an arrow before the shooting light closes.
The kill plot prioritizes hunting strategy rather than sheer tonnage of food provided. Smaller in size but often more lethal, the inferior size makes it more advantageous for bow hunters. Timing on these plots is extremely crucial. If and when the deer in your area prioritize this as a primary food source, all forage could be devoured in a matter of a week.
You can also use both of these types of plots in tandem if your land allows. Using the kill plot as a funnel on the way to a feed plot or a neighbor's agricultural field can be an extremely deadly combination.
LocationNow that you have an idea of the type of plot you'd like to add to your land, you need to start thinking about location. During this step, I often go back to the bird's eye view of the property to help map out my thoughts. I like to print an 11x17 page and use a marker to draw out my thinking, but I know many of you would rather use a digital app. Both work great.
Where on your property does a food plot make sense? Many factors come into determining the location, and you need to contemplate all of them. How many points of access does your property have? What is the entrance and exit strategy? What's the dominant wind? Does this area have ideal conditions for the style of hunting you want to do? Are there multiple stand locations? Where are the other food sources? Where are the nearest bedding areas? Are you able to get equipment into this area to plant?
Reflecting on all these questions while using your map and labeling all known areas, such as parking, trails, bedding areas, oak stands, and water sources, can help bring life to your plot. You need to be able to access this plot without disturbance to the animals you’re intending to hunt, so designating these areas to be as “huntable” as possible is the best, most elementary plan.
Some landowners can get lucky and have a beautiful, sunny open field with great access that is easily recreated into a plot, while the less fortunate landowners might have to hire a logging company to create one, but most are somewhere in between. I’m not going to try and elaborate on the best cookie-cutter food plot setup because, like I have preached, every parcel is different but there are a few common components to successful plots: sunlight, well-drained soil, and sunlight.
Now that your location is picked out, you need to take a deep dive into your soil. By using the USGS website, you can get an approximate soil type of a chosen area of interest (your land). Doing a soil test isn’t needed but is extremely beneficial. The soil test will break down your soil health by showing you your soil’s acidity (pH), nutrient levels (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), and the amount of organic material found in the soil.
While they seem complex, they are super cheap and easy to do and can help point you in the right direction of what type of plant to choose. You can get kits online or from your local seed supplier/co-op and usually get the results sent directly to your email. Using the results, you’ll be able to better address the needs of your soil by fertilization or adjusting your soil's pH.
Plan your PlantingNow you need to start thinking about how to get the seeds in the ground. And yes, I mean in the ground. The “throw it and grow it” slogans are crap. Can they work? Sure. Will I ever do it? No.
If you are already this far, you probably already have somewhat of a plan of how you plan to cultivate and plant your seed. Your setup can be an ATV with a couple of handy attachments, or a tractor with farming-specific implements. Both work great; it's really just what you have access to. The instructions I am about to give you are super generic, and I’ll go more extensive into this process in a future article.
I start my plots by mowing as low as I can without risking damaging the equipment and mowing down all woody brush, grass, and any other debris that might be in the way. I usually mow instead of spraying herbicide because I am not a huge fan of chemicals, but in areas with a high density of weeds, you might have to resort to spraying. I start the tillage process with a light disk, and for most plots, you really only have to go down a few inches. After a couple passes over the soil with a disk, I switch to a drag or harrow. The disk slices down into the soil bed and turns it over, and the harrow drags across to smooth and evenly distribute the topsoil. If you don’t have access to any piece of tillage equipment, a few extra passes with the harrow can suffice.
For most landowners, the use of a broadcast seeder is most practical and easy. Grain drills or no-till drills work great but require a tractor for use. Renting equipment from a dealer or local conservation district (or whatever your local conservation group is) is a great option as well. After I broadcast the seed, I’ll drag the harrow over the top soil again with the hopes to cover the seed with ¼- to ¾-inch of soil.
After planting, fence off a small area using chicken wire. This will show you the true growth of the plot without animal consumption or disturbance. Again, I know these instructions are super bland, but I wanted to simply paint a picture for you, and I'll get into a more precise planting process later. I really want you to look at the entire process rather than just throwing seeds at some bare ground.
What to Plant?The burning questions I get asked all the time are, “What should I plant?” and “Should I plant annuals or perennials?” These questions can be tough to answer because every region is different. You can also ponder the results of your soil sample to help you choose what to plant.
For example, if your soil’s nitrogen levels are low, you can plant legumes that naturally fixate nitrogen. In Kansas and Missouri, I really liked to plant legumes and grains. Generally, great soil conditions and adequate rainfall made plots fairly simple.
An earlier spring usually allows for multiple plantings, so you can have a spring-to-summer plot, cultivate and replant, and have a fall-to-winter plot. I really liked the cowpea and buckwheat spring planting and the soybean and wheat fall planting. This works throughout the Midwest, but the planting seasons in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Canada can get wonky due to extended winters. In these northern regions, I usually advise just doing one planting to be safe. A late spring planting for feed plots and early fall plantings for kill plots.
Planting plots in the West is a completely different ballgame. Extreme heat, low humidity, and rainfall mixed with lesser soil quality, hamper the diversity of the seed selection. In Montana, primarily stick to drought-tolerant grains such as barley or wheat, with some legumes mixed in such as alfalfa or peas. Regardless of where you are, rotating crops can be super beneficial to long-term soil health.
When buying seed, I strongly urge you to buy from a local seed dealer or co-op. They supply the correct seed varieties for your region. Buying a mass-produced seed blend from your local sporting goods store can work, but it can often set you up for failure. The local agronomists and conservationists working at these dealers and co-ops can also help you dissect your soil sample results to help you create a plan to increase your property's soil health but advise you on choosing the right species and varieties to plant (as well as countless other tips and tricks).
Over the years, I’ve planted thousands of acres of food plots, and even with all that experience, I’ve still learned the hard way about what I did wrong. It’s definitely a challenging process that may take a couple of years to truly perfect. Take notes or make an Excel spreadsheet to help you keep your data organized so you can reflect after the season, and use the information to improve your plot the following season.
For example, if you planted at a rate of 80 pounds of wheat per acre and you noticed your plot was thin, the following year you would know to increase your seeding rate to 100 pounds per acre. Always retest soil and hold on to those results to see how your soil health increases or decreases over the years.
Never stop learning and improving your land management strategy. And remember, food plots not only play an enormous part in your land planning strategy by increasing the health and size of your herd but also in helping you close in the distance on that once-in-a-lifetime Booner!
Dry, damaged bowstrings can blow up in your face, causing significant injury, wrecking your rig, or—worst of all—spoiling your shot at the buck of a lifetime.
Bowstrings that are past their prime can also reduce consistent accuracy and have a negative impact on overall performance. Over time, the intense vibration and force of firing wears on strings, leaving them frayed, stretched out, and damaged. Even at rest, strings are under a lot of tension that limits their lifespan.
Several factors will dictate how well your bowstrings hold up and how often you should replace them, including how much you shoot, how much weight you pull, the conditions where you shoot and store your bow, and how well you maintain the strings.
Generally, a quality set of bowstrings can last several thousand shots when properly cared for. But even if you hang up your rig for a few months after the season (or do a mid-season checkup) and don’t shoot as often as you ought to, you shouldn’t wait longer than two to three years to replace strings.
If you’re shooting 3D tournaments every weekend and getting hundreds of practice reps in each week, you’ll probably want to switch them out more often. And anytime you buy a used bow, upgrading to a new set right away is a smart idea.
Telltale Signs of Bowstring WearTo determine if your bowstrings are due for replacement before the two-year mark, visually inspect them for any areas that look dry, frayed, faded, separated, or otherwise damaged. Then run your fingers across the strings, feeling for any spots that are brittle or fuzzy. Pay special attention to the portions along the yoke and near the cams.
Bowstrings won’t always look like they’re about to break when they’re on their last leg—sometimes you have to evaluate performance to know when it’s time to swap them out.
When your bow seems to be losing speed, the poundage you’re pulling decreases without making any tweaks, the timing is off, the string creeps, or repeatable accuracy tanks, that’s a good indication your bowstrings are stretched or worn. When your peep sight suddenly begins rotating excessively, you could be dealing with a broken strand. Whenever you see a major shift in performance without making any changes to your form or setup, there’s a good chance you’re in need of new strings.
If you’re unsure, it’s best to err on the side of caution and replace your bowstring or head to a pro shop for an expert opinion. The $75 you spend on a brand-new set of bowstrings is certainly cheaper than investing in another bow altogether—and you should see a noticeable improvement in performance. Choose a quality set of bowstrings over a bargain find that could have you back in the pro shop within a few months.
Whenever you decide to replace your bowstrings, do so at least a month before you plan to hunt so you have plenty of time to ensure everything is working properly.
How to Extend Bowstring Life Although you should regularly replace your bowstrings, bowhunters can take a few steps to extend a string’s life and keep rigs shooting at peak performance.
Regular waxing is cheap and easy and keeps strings lubricated. The exact frequency will depend on how much shooting you do and the surrounding conditions, but once every three to four weeks when shooting regularly is a solid schedule. If you notice the strings looking dry or fuzzy at any time, you can give it another light coat of wax. Be sure to clean off any dust, dirt, or debris with a soft cloth before applying wax to prevent the residue from rubbing into the string, and always take a tube with you on hunts.
Take care not to continually brush bowstrings up against your clothing, branches, brush, and gear while walking through the woods. Repetitive contact can damage individual fibers and weaken bowstrings.
Before every shooting session and after every hunt, dust off bowstrings and inspect them for signs of wear or damage. Make sure no burrs or thorns that could cause excessive wear are caught on components, and carefully clean off any buildup.
Major shifts in temperature or humidity levels can also be hard on bowstrings. So rather than leaving your bow in a shed or garage that goes from a sticky 105 degrees in the summer to a dry 20 below in the winter, store it in a climate-controlled area year-round.
All in all, your bowstring is just like any other aspect of bowhunting—it requires attention and dedication. It’s also similar in the fact that the more you plan ahead and stay on top of its condition, the fewer headaches—literally or figuratively—you’ll have in the future.
Several years ago, I sat down to eat at a nice restaurant in Indianapolis with a dozen or so industry folks. We were in town for the Archery Trade Association (ATA) show, and I was definitely the lowest person on the totem pole.
At one point during that dinner, the topic of the future of hunting came up. The general consensus was that not only were we in trouble, but that knocking on doors to hunt private ground was a thing of the past.
The problem with that was, none of the people at that table except for me had had any reason to knock on a door in a decade or two. They didn’t know what they were talking about—and neither does anyone else who makes that claim. Handshake hunting permission isn’t as easy to come across as it was 30 or 40 years ago, but it hasn’t totally gone the way of the dinosaur.
Timing Is EverythingThere are three categories of landowners.
The first won’t let you hunt no matter what, and are disgusted that you’d even ask. The second might let you hunt, but you have to approach them correctly. The third, and this is the rarest type in my experience, will green-light anyone.
That last group tends to consist of farmers who hate deer because deer eat crops. It might also consist of someone who has hit too many deer with a vehicle or watched too much expensive shrubbery go down the gullet of the neighborhood ungulates.
Finding one of these landowners means you’re going to get permission, but you’ll have public-land-level pressure. That’s okay, it’s better than not hunting. I much prefer the second type, however: the landowner who will let you hunt only if you approach them correctly.
When it comes to farmers, this often means knocking during spring. Before the planting season really kicks off, to be specific. This is because they’re itchy to get out, but aren’t in the day-to-day reality of racing Mother Nature’s clock while logging in serious hours. When that starts, don’t bother them.
Don’t bother them in the fall either, which is a big mistake a lot of hunters make. If you’ve spent any time working on farms in your life, you know that by September, there’s one goal and it’s not to chit-chat with whitetail hunters who should have stopped out months earlier.
Be Different, Think Different Seeking permission in the spring, allows you to beat the crowds. It allows you to hit up landowners when everyone else is focused on non-deer-related activities. It also allows you to do plenty of spring and summer scouting if you’re lucky enough to get a thumbs up.
To get permission, you’ll want to think about your approach and how you’ll handle it if it’s anything other than a hard no. If it’s a soft no, there is also often room to negotiate some level of permission because you’ll most likely be competing with other hunters for space (the reason for the ‘no’ in the first place).
Think about this before you knock, and then allow for some wiggle room. Even though you’d love to do a week of dark-to-dark rut sits on a new property, maybe the landowner isn’t so keen on you being there then. Can you hunt the late season, to earn their trust? The more you define the reality that you’ll play by their rules, and stay out of the way of anyone who got there first, the more likely you are to get in at some level.
This has worked for me multiple times and often starts with turkey permission, doe-only permission, or even photography permission, but over time morphs into something bigger.
Maintain Light ContactAs long as I don’t get a hard no, I tend to circle back to specific landowners from spring to spring. Maybe the hunter who was keeping you out moved or ticked off the landowner. Maybe the deer population has grown some, and the landowner now thinks the herd could use a little more culling.
Keeping light contact is important, but don’t overstep your bounds. When you get the green light, you want to be like children from the 1950s—seen and not heard. Solve your own issues with other hunters, park where you’re supposed to, and keep the landowners free to think about their own lives. This is so important.
This is also why I like asking for permission in the spring. It gives a grace period for figuring out what specific landowners prefer. If they want you to park in a certain ditch, or field drive, great. I’d rather learn that stuff in April than make a mistake during October. This gives you a bigger window to prove that you’re there for the right reasons and are hyperaware of the privilege permission grants you.
If you feel that you’re light on good hunting spots, or have just been salivating over a certain property, right now is the time to ask. You might get a hard no, which is a bummer. But you might get a negotiable soft no, or that glorious yes, and then the arc of your entire season will change for the better.
If you want some information on what to do if you snag permission to new dirt, check out these deer scouting articles: When Should You Start Scouting For Whitetails, How To Improve Your Whitetail E-Scouting, and The Basics Of Summer Scouting Whitetails.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
L.J. Smith is an expert witness that trial lawyers want on their side. Smith, 72, a former Mississippi wildlife officer, has investigated 550 treestand accidents, given 100 depositions in treestand lawsuits, and testified 30 times when injured hunters took treestand manufacturers to trial in courthouses across the country. Manufacturers who retained Smith as their expert witness are 28-2 in those cases, and he shrugs off the two lost judgments as “small amounts.”
Even so, Smith doesn’t expect his expertise and 93% winning percentage to deter future lawsuits against treestand companies. “This country has about 1.3 million lawyers, so you have to assume they’ll keep bringing lawsuits,” Smith told MeatEater.
Smith has also investigated hundreds of other hunting incidents over the past 35 years involving rifles, shotguns, crossbows, muzzleloaders, and compound bows. All that experience helped him create a treestand-investigation course in 2010 to train game wardens and other law-enforcement officers to pinpoint each accident’s cause. He has taught the courses with John Louk, the executive director of the Treestand Manufacturers Association (TMA), since 2001. Smith estimates he and Louk have taught his treestand-investigation techniques to more than 520 conservation wardens in 17 states over the past decade.
“I stress the same thing during each course: Let the facts speak for themselves,” Smith said. “If you show me a treestand, and you show me the site where that accident happened, I’ll tell you how it happened and why it happened, and what should have been done to prevent it from happening.”
Blame it on BubbaSmith concedes that manufacturing defects can cause treestand tumbles, but they’re the exceptions. He said the most common cause, by far, has a nickname: Bubba.
“We’ve had countless situations where Bubba sues a manufacturer after someone left their treestand unattended in the woods for seven to 10 years, and then Bubba came along and climbed into it,” Smith said. “Bubba hadn’t considered that the tree had been growing and weakening the stand, and UV rays and rain were rotting the strap or rusting the bolts. Or, maybe another Bubba switched out the manufacturer’s old strap for a cheap cargo strap. When I see red, blue, orange, or yellow straps on treestands, I know Bubba didn’t buy them from a treestand manufacturer. If he had read and followed the manufacturer’s instructions, he wouldn’t have hurt himself.”
Because of such tendencies, treestand falls each year often cripple or kill more U.S. hunters than accidental shootings. Additionally, most hunters across whitetail country—roughly the eastern two-thirds of the U.S.—much prefer hunting from high places. When the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources surveyed bowhunters in 2013, for example, it found 91.5% used a treestand that year and 97.3% used a treestand at some point in previous years. Further, more than 9% of those respondents said they had fallen and 19% reported a “near-accident” in a treestand.
But, bowhunters aren’t the only ones who use treestands. Glen Mayhew, president of the Tree Stand Safety Awareness Foundation (TSSA), said his research shows bowhunters account for 40% to 50% of falls each year, while rifle/shotgun hunters account for roughly 30%, and crossbow-hunters and muzzleloading hunters flip-flop from 7% to 15% annually.
However, a 2013 joint study by the Wisconsin DNR and Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation found that bowhunters face 4.5 times more risk than gun-hunters because their nearly four-month season offers far more opportunities. In fact, bowhunters took at least twice as many tumbles and near-falls (28%) than did gun-hunters (13%), according to the study. Further, the risk of falling increases the longer hunters remain active, with probabilities for serious injury rising to one in 71 for those hunting 25 years. The most avid hunters—those hunting Wisconsin’s archery and firearm seasons over a lifetime—have a one-in-20 chance of injury in a fall.
Mayhew’s research, meanwhile, showed the average victim’s age ranges from 46 to 49. “Of the 1,200 accident reports in my files, the ages range from 6 to 96, but few youngsters or old people are falling,” he told MeatEater. “Year after year, the biggest group is just shy of 50.”
The Investigation GapNo matter the victims’ ages or hunting methods, the incident gap between treestand falls and shooting accidents would be even greater if states investigated treestand injuries as regularly as they do firearm woundings. Although every accidental shooting must be reported to authorities nationwide, fewer than 20 states require the same for treestand falls. When the National Deer Association (formerly the Quality Deer Management Association) surveyed 37 state wildlife agencies in the Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast about treestand accidents in 2011, only 16 states had such data.
Illinois DNR provided the Midwest’s most detailed treestand data. The state recorded 108 hunting accidents from 2017 through 2021, with treestands accounting for 60 (59%) of them, and shootings 32 (30%). Three hunters died from falls (5%) and one died from a gunshot (3%).
New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation began tracking treestand incidents in 2017, but the DEC concedes “most” accidents probably remain unreported. Even so, the agency documented 11 hunters dying in 48 (23%) treestand incidents from 2017 through 2022, including five in 2017 and four in 2022. New York’s shooting incidents during those years totaled 75, including 14 fatalities (19%).
Despite such numbers, Smith, Louk, and other manufacturers and educators — including Marilyn Bentz, executive director of the National Bowhunter Education Foundation (NBEF); and Mayhew—believe treestand accidents have declined over the past two decades through education, better equipment, and greater awareness. Treestand safety is now a standard part of hunter-education curricula taught by the NBEF and the International Hunter Education Association.
The Treestand Manufacturers Association helped spur those efforts. Since its formation in 1995, the TMA has spent over $4 million on treestand-safety education programs. In addition, TMA-member companies have included a full-body harness with every treestand sold since 2004. And starting in 2007, those companies also included a safety video with each sale. Since starting those giveaways, the treestand industry has distributed 25 million full-body harnesses and more than 16 million safety videos. Those numbers don’t include after-market full-body harnesses like those made by Hunter Safety Systems.
“Hunters today are just more aware,” Louk said. “Our surveys show 88% of hunters have taken a hunter-ed course, 56% have taken a hunter-ed class that taught treestand safety, and 72% of treestand hunters know they should use a full-body harness. That’s a big change from the early 1990s when full-body harnesses weren’t an option. No one made full-body harnesses for hunters back then. The only options were waist belts and chest harnesses, which are deadly if you fall. No one sells those anymore.”
Encouraging TrendsHave those efforts reduced treestand falls and injuries? The NDA’s 2011 report showed treestand falls declined 10% from 1999 to 2009 in Virginia; and a combined 39% decline those years in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
Louk said the TMA is finishing an in-depth study with the IHEA to answer that question with hard data and expects to release its findings this summer. The TSSA’s Mayhew, meanwhile, said his analysis of data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) since 2010 shows a 70% decrease in treestand falls through 2021, declining from 5,598 to 1,704 nationwide. The NEISS data are representative samplings of 100 U.S. hospitals that report all emergency-department visits linked to consumer products.
Mayhew said the NEISS created a separate category for treestands in 2010. He has reviewed each treestand accident in the NEISS reports to ensure it was an actual fall. He removes irrelevant cases, such as when someone suffers a bee sting or tick bite while using a treestand, or drops a treestand on their toe while cleaning the garage.
Mayhew—a former firefighter/paramedic, and associate dean at Jefferson College of Health Sciences in Roanoke, Virginia—is also a member of the Virginia Tree Stand Safety Team. He doubts the decline in treestand falls can be fully explained by declines in licensed hunters. After all, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported the nation’s hunting population declined 15% from 2011 to 2016, from 13.5 million to 11.5 million, well short of 70%. Another review of U.S. hunters by the Statista Research Department found the nation’s hunting population actually increased 12% from 2010 to 2021.
Mayhew said he’s confident in the TSSA’s data, which he supplements with annual treestand-accident reports from 13 states. “Our database is large, and includes the records on nearly 1,200 falls,” Mayhew told MeatEater. “When we created the TSSA in 2016-17, we set a goal to reduce treestand falls requiring emergency-room treatment by 50%. From 2016 to 2021, those cases decreased by 42.8%, so we’re closing in on our goal.”
Setting, Enforcing StandardsLike Smith, Mayhew also credits the TMA and its members for working with the American Society for Testing and Materials to define and test manufacturing standards and specifications for treestands, tripod stands, climbing sticks, and fall-arrest harnesses.
After forming in 1995 and setting its first manufacturing standards in 1997, the TMA began enforcing its standards through random, independent tests on treestands and safety equipment by an outside laboratory.
“Some treestands on the market 25 years ago were junk, and they needed to go,” Smith said. “We used to see treestands that were pop-riveted together with hand-tools, and some designs were accidents waiting to happen. One company had a device where the hunter strapped a small climbing platform on each foot like snowshoes, and ‘walked’ up the tree. I asked the manufacturer if he was trying to put himself out of business. That product didn’t make it. A lot of industry-leading treestands in the 1980s and 1990s wouldn’t pass today’s standards.”
Testing laboratories that contract with the TMA randomly buy five samples of individual products for testing. If a product fails, the manufacturer must issue a recall and correct the flaw. The TMA severs ties with manufacturers that don’t cooperate. Smith said losing TMA certification can kill a manufacturer because major retailers, citing liability concerns, won’t carry products that aren’t TMA-certified.
Smith said the TMA decertified a company called Hunter’s View in 2006 when it refused to recall a full-body harness that failed its performance test two straight years. “When the TMA pulled their membership, they went out of business,” Smith said. “It’s actually hard to find or buy a treestand that isn’t TMA-certified. TMA-member companies account for 95% of all U.S. treestand sales.”
Safety Through InnovationManufacturers also improve safety through innovation. Ladder stands, for instance, are safe and comfortable once belted and ratcheted to the tree. Unfortunately, they can be difficult to install and remove, especially if hunters work alone. Until a ladder stand’s platform is secured to the tree, the ladder can twist sideways as the hunter ascends, or tip backward when the hunter reaches the top and shifts the stand’s center of gravity. To reduce those dangers, the TMA in 2010 required ladder stands to have extra ropes or straps to better secure the platform by crisscrossing them behind the tree. Previously, it required ladders to have locking pins to hold each section together.
More recently, ladder stands like River Edge’s Lockdown, Trophy Treestand’s Jaw Safety System and Draw-Tight Cable System, and Primal Outdoors’ Grip Jaw & Backbone Stabilizer Truss System can be solidly secured without leaving the ground. “These are some of the most significant increases in safety our industry has seen in the past 20 years,” Louk said.
The TMA is also working with the ASTM to write standards for treestand safety ropes with sliding Prusik knots and carabiner clips that allow hunters to stay safely attached the entire time they’re off the ground. Millennium Outdoors, for example, includes its 35-foot SafeLink safety rope with all of its hang-on and ladder stands.
“Education and personal responsibility are vital, but treestand manufacturers will always study how hunters use or don’t use their products, and design models that conveniently create safer behaviors,” Louk said.
After all, according to Mayhew, the leading causes of the 1,200 falls he’s studied are slips, loss of grip, and loss of balance. “Most falls happen while climbing or descending, and transitioning to or from the platform,” Mayhew said. “Relatively few falls start from the platform. A few hunters fall when they doze off, but of the 13 factors I list as possible causes, ‘sleep’ is near the bottom at No. 11.”
Mayhew said the second-leading cause of falls is due to straps breaking or coming loose. “Many hunters leave their stands out year-round indefinitely,” he said. “Trees grow around the straps, and UV rays and moisture rot the nylon. At the least, remove your treestands after the season, inspect them, and replace everything with parts from the manufacturer. Cheap ratchets and cargo straps aren’t designed for the woods and treestands.” Mayhew also suggests replacing straps every other year, no matter how much time they spend outdoors.
The third-leading cause of falls on Mayhew’s list is “operator error,” which means not attaching or buckling straps properly, not securing pins or fasteners, or not securing a climbing stand’s foot platform to the seat’s platform. “When you’re in a hurry and operating in the dark, it’s easy to make mistakes and overlook loose parts,” Mayhew said. “Simple, common mistakes are deadly but preventable. These causes drive home the importance of using a full-body harness and staying secured to a safety rope whenever your feet are off the ground.”
Final ThoughtsMayhew said hang-on treestands are involved in more falls than other types of stands, but that doesn’t mean they’re inherently unsafe. They’re also the most popular, affordable, and commonly used treestand in the woods.
Ladder stands are second on the most-falls list, with climbing stands third. Mayhew said more tree-saddle accidents have “trickled in” over the past few years, with most cases occurring when the hunter isn’t connected to the tree. “We’re also seeing more cases of hunters modifying their saddle or ignoring the manufacturer’s directions on setting up and using it,” he said. “Modifying a manufacturer’s design is never a good idea.”
He said hunters can protect themselves by remaining wary and following the TSSA’s ABCs of treestand safety:
A — Always remove and inspect all equipment before using it again, even if you’re just returning from a lunch break. (35% of falls involve factors that could have been inspected and corrected.)
B — Buckle your full-body harness securely. (86% of fall victims weren’t wearing a harness.)
C — Connect before your feet leave the ground (99% of fall victims were untethered). Once on the platform, secure your tether high enough so your knees remain above the platform should you fall.
D — Destination: Share your treestand location before each hunt. (Every minute counts in search-and-rescues.)
The TMA offers similar tips, starting with keeping your harness connected at all times. Second, read and understand the manufacturer’s warnings and instructions. Third, practice with your gear so you know how to wear, attach, and use it. Fourth, inspect the stand’s straps, cables, bolts, nuts, and framework before each use. And fifth, don’t be in a hurry.
“Most falls aren’t caused by one factor,” Louk said. “Almost always you’ll find contributing factors. An IHEA survey in 2002 attributed 41% of falls to taking shortcuts and being in a hurry. All those little things add up and cause distractions that can cripple or kill you.”
If you’re thinking wolves, coyotes, or cougars, think again. The predator deer fear most walks on two legs. A study conducted in 2018 at the Jones Center at Ichauway in southwest Georgia found whitetails were significantly more spooked at the sound of “super predator” humans than any other predator.
Dr. Daniel Crawford, the lead investigator—who also happens to be an avid bowhunter—set out to learn if fear of humans prompted deer to change their feeding behavior the same way it did large carnivores.
The test took place on a 30,000-acre ecological research site, where Crawford’s team set up 23 pre-baited sites equipped with trail cameras and audio playback speakers five yards from the corn. They set cameras to record 20-second videos, and audio recordings started playing after 10 seconds. The team loaded speakers with 64 different audio clips of humans, coyotes, wolves, cougars, and dogs, as well as control sounds of innocuous birds. Over the course of the study, the research team collected 823 videos across the 23 sites to analyze how whitetails responded to each sound.
Generally, deer were unphased by bird sounds. They were more alarmed by the sounds of coyotes—some hightailed it out of the feeding area, while others cautiously stuck around. Wolves incited a more prominent flight response, even though these predators haven’t existed in the study area for over a century.
But, the sound of conversational human voices was overwhelmingly the most fear-inducing. Deer were nearly twice as likely to run from human recordings than those of any other predator. Click here to check out a video by the National Deer Association depicting these findings.
Although the numbers might have been more lopsided than expected, the general results weren’t too surprising to the research team.
“Our results are context-dependent for sure,” Crawford told the National Deer Association. “We are in an area where there’s a heavy emphasis on deer harvest, and there are a lot of deer killed every year by people. In hunted places, I expect deer are going to behave like this.”
Deer populations at the Jones Center at Ichauway are intensely managed via annual harvest, so hunting pressure is a factor. The same is true throughout most of the whitetail’s range. Hunter harvest averages around six million whitetails every year.
A 2013 deer mortality study by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the University of Wisconsin reported human hunting was responsible for more than three times the deer killed than coyotes and wolves combined throughout the study area. In the eastern farmland region of the state, the results were even more extreme, with human hunting clocking in at 53% and coyote predation at only 2%.
Humans are simply the most efficient predators of adult whitetails—and the deer seem to know it. But human pressure doesn’t only cause whitetails to flee an area. It can also reduce feeding time, ultimately impacting health and population numbers, according to the Crawford study:
“Combined with previous, site-specific research linking deer fecundity to predator abundance, this study reveals that fear of humans has the potential to induce a larger effect on ungulate reproduction than has ever been reported. By demonstrating that deer most fear the human ‘super predator,’ our results point to the fear humans induce in large ungulates having population- and community-level impacts comparable to those caused by the fear humans induce in large carnivores.”
A 2016 study found similar results among mesocarnivores such as badgers, foxes, and raccoons. While badgers showed signs of fear at the sound of bears or dogs, they would eventually venture out to feed. But “they would cower in their burrows” for hours when human sounds played and would not emerge until the recordings were completely shut off.
Chatting it up in the woods doesn’t just scare off wildlife. It can literally have impacts that change the population.
So what does this mean for hunters?
Keep your mouth shut in the field. Minimize any human-associated sounds, such as metal clanking, when you’re hunting, too.
The presence of humans in general—not just their sounds—can have these same effects, so be vigilant about staying as concealed and scent-free as possible. Minimize foot traffic in hunting areas, particularly in the weeks surrounding hunting seasons. Stop pulling camera cards every couple days and stomping through feeding areas.
Want to see thriving whitetail populations and kill big bucks? Stop stressing the deer out!
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
Where turkeys live, so too, do deer. The crossover between pursuing both species is huge, and while you might not learn much about spring turkeys while hunting deer in the fall, the inverse isn’t true.
Spring turkey hunting can tell you a lot about whitetails.
You just have to pay attention when you’re out there listening for gobbles. Whether you only bowhunt birds from a blind for hours at a time, or you have to run and gun nonstop because you have the patience of a highly caffeinated toddler, the opportunity to set yourself up for better fall deer hunting is out there in the May woods.
This, like most scouting, begins with looking for sign.
Fading Deer SignLike a skywriter’s message, last fall’s deer sign is destined to fade. In most places, this has already started due to the spring green-up. Scrapes are the first to go, and rubs will soon follow. You can still identify rubs, but they won’t be as easy to spot as they were even a few months ago.
Pay attention anyway. Stumbling across a rubline now is a net benefit to your fall deer hunting. Finding a community scrape with a well-used licking branch over it, is too. These are easy ones that any decent whitetail hunter should be aware of.
There are also beds, tracks, and trails to consider. My favorite turkey season sign to find is a pounded trail. This is because I know that where deer travel is tied to two reasons. The first is to get from point A to B as easily as possible. Deer lean into this year-round, so where May bucks walk because it’s a direct, easy route, the bucks of October will do the same.
The second reason is to stay undetected. A trail that is beaten down when you spy it in May, is a trail that should host some good deer travel from September to season close. If you find a river crossing, a fence crossing, or some terrain feature that funnels movement, you have a real winner on your hands. Drop a waypoint, make a few notes, and don’t forget about your findings during the summer.
High Vis Bucks There isn’t a piece of deer sign that is more valuable than actually seeing a deer. If that deer happens to have two big nubs on his head, that’s even better. When you’re sitting out there with your back to a tree, or whiling away the hours in a hub-style blind, keep watch.
When you get to observe deer, even the ones who stomp and snort at your decoys, take note of what they do. It might seem like the deer movement of May is totally divorced from November, but it’s not.
The way deer leave a river bottom to bed in the hills, or how they approach a pond to drink, might remain consistent for all 12 months of the year. There’s a reason why deer do certain things, and those reasons often don’t change just because it’s spring and not fall.
They travel with intent. They use the wind all year to make sure they aren’t going to get surprised by coyotes in the spring, as much as they use it to bust us in October. Such is the life of a prey animal. The more you observe this behavior, the more they’ll tip their hand to you.
Busted Bucks If you have a bit of trouble focusing on two things at once, like turkey hunting and deer scouting, do this—just take note of the deer you bust. That’s it. When you’re moving up a ridge to set up for the latest gobble, and you see a few stark-white tails bounding through the brush, make a mental note.
Where were they? What time was it? What was the wind doing? The goal is to come up with a reason for why you think they were there. This might seem simple—that’s because it is. It doesn’t mean there isn’t value in it, because if there is one thing that happens fairly often in turkey season, it’s spooking deer.
Instead of cursing them for potentially spooking your longbeard, consider it an opportunity. Maybe those busted bucks can teach you something that you can put into action six months from now.
While whitetails won’t be your primary focus when you’re turkey hunting, don’t write off every encounter or bit of sign you find useless. It’s not. It just might help you find an ideal stand site or a spot to place a trail camera this summer to gather up a little more intel.
For more information on scouting whitetails, give these articles a read: The Best Sign to Find While Winter Scouting, When Should You Start Scouting For Whitetails, and Scout in March to Kill in November.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
Hunt long enough and you’ll make some mistakes. Hunt as long as I have and you’ll make a whole bunch of mistakes, some dumber than others. But, regardless of how dumb the mistakes are, they are almost always lessons built in. Here are a few of my past hunting screw-ups.
The Brush BuckIt had been a long week, which wasn’t entirely unexpected. I was hunting an area I’d never been to that’s likely to have a fair amount of hunting pressure. I planned my arrival for when I figured bucks would be locking down tight with hot does. After fruitless efforts, I had decided to sit in my truck a bit, eat my lunch, read a chapter or two of a book, and simply enjoy the lack of digital disruptions.
At that minute, things got interesting.
I was halfway through a ham and swiss when I looked up and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Standing right there, halfway down the hill in front of me was a buck. And a pretty good one by the looks of it. He was staring intently at something. Then, I saw the second buck, a really good one. I grabbed my bow, binoculars, and a grunt call and headed toward them as soon as they dipped out of sight.
I was hunting an elevated pasture with a heavily-used cattle path and a 10-foot strip of thick, nasty brush that separated the pasture ground from the CRP-like cover that the bucks were in. I had figured they were looking for a doe that was laid up in that grass, and, long story short, that’s exactly what they were doing because I ran smack into her as I was making my way around the pasture. When she spotted me at about 10 yards, she turned inside out and hauled off for the next county. It was perfect. The bucks knew the doe was around but had no idea she’d just left. They were going to continue the search.
For the next hour, I chased the biggest buck back and forth across that wretched strip of dense brush. I had him at about 30 yards two separate times, but he was on the opposite side of the brush from me. I couldn’t get a shot.
And finally, it all came together. The buck was frantically searching for the doe, had hit her trail, and was marching right to me. I hopped across the strip of brush, came to full draw, and waited for him to appear, which he did—on the other damn side of the brush. By the time I realized he had crossed over again, he was about 12 steps out and coming fast. At a distance of about four yards, he finally caught my scent and saw me. When he spun to bail, the dirt from his hooves actually hit me in the face. \
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. The lesson? If I had simply taken an extra 10 seconds or so to stop and prepare myself to have an opening to shoot either side of the brush row, I’d have likely killed that buck. Consider every shooting lane, every option, because you’ll never know what a buck is going to do at the moment.
Catch and ReleaseBack in the day, Southern Iowa was a pretty special place. It was easily the best public ground hunting I’d ever seen, and I simply could not wait to get back to it. I’d waited four years to get back to this specific spot after four years of dreaming, scheming, planning, and plotting—and it didn’t disappoint. I saw a ton of good bucks that were hard after it, searching for does, responding to calls, and doing all the things you expect in November.
There was one area I wanted to explore, but it would require a long hike up and over a number of ridges, traversing a fairly significant drainage system that could be full of water. I loaded up on food and water and decided to dedicate the day to it. After a lengthy hike, it was everything I’d thought it might be.
I had just settled in when I heard the deep, guttural sound of a buck grunt. It was game time.
I grabbed my grunt call, fired back an answer, and scrambled to get everything set up. In less than 30 seconds, I could hear the buck on a steady walk in the leaves. He was coming.
I reached for my release in my pack, and that’s when I remembered—it wasn’t there. I had taken a couple of practice shots the night before and left the release in my bow case, where I reasoned, I surely wouldn’t forget it.
The buck was closing fast, and I knew I was stuck. I tried to draw and aim the bow using just my fingers as I had when I first started hunting. It was useless. There was simply no way I could do it.
The buck marched into range and passed below me at about 15 steps. It was a stud typical pushing 170 inches or so. I returned to that ridge the next day, this time with my release strapped to my wrist, and never saw another deer. The lesson? Strap your release to your bow after every use. You’ll thank me later.
Sand-BlastedI’m not a huge fan of winter, but, like most whitetail hunters, I welcome a good cold front in October or November. If it brings a little snow with it, all the better. That’s exactly what I’d gotten in South Dakota as I was returning to a public area that had treated me well in the past. About an inch of snow had fallen the day prior to my arrival and I thought little of it. I knew the temperatures were rising, and by the time I completed the drive from home, the snow would likely be mostly melted, and it was.
What I didn’t know is that the dirt roads that had seemed tame the year before would become nearly impassible paths of wet, sticky muck, unlike anything I’d ever seen before. With my truck in four-wheel drive, I could slide, crawl, and slip my way at about three miles an hour. After about four miles, I decided I’d make a mistake. I was able to turn around and begin to work my way back to a paved road. About every quarter-mile, I’d have to stop and claw the built-up mud from the wheel wells, or the tires would simply stop turning.
Two hours later, I made it back to the blacktop. With darkness coming on fast, I decided to head to camp and try again in the morning, knowing that the overnight temps would dip into freezing and the roads would be much easier to navigate. The next morning, everything went off without a hitch (aside from not seeing any deer), and I was smart enough to bail out around 11 a.m. before the midday sun turned the roads to soup again.
As I loaded my gear into the truck and prepared to depart, I noticed my tires. The caked-in mud had frozen solid overnight into concrete-like sanding blocks. As I drove the 20 miles to the hunting site from my camp location, I had essentially sandblasted my tires. The inside of each tire had steel belts showing through where the rubber had been scrubbed cleanly by the frozen mud. It was an 80-mile drive to the nearest tire shop, which I made at about 25 miles an hour.
The lesson? Take care of your gear, truck included, and it’ll take care of you. Otherwise, you have a hard road ahead of you, literally, in my case.
Feature image via Matt Hansen.
It’s possible that you’re needlessly wasting money on your whitetail food plots and damaging elements of your hunting property just as much, if not more than you’re helping. Got your attention? Let me explain.
Food plots are a proven means for providing high-quality wildlife forage and are an effective hunting tool. But it’s also true that traditional food-plotting practices can negatively impact your soil health, water quality, and surrounding native vegetation—not to mention your checking account. If you’re planting food plots to help wildlife and the local ecosystem, traditional food-plot practices leave something to be desired. Fortunately, there’s more than one way to skin this cat, and a potential solution lies in the commercial farming industry.
A relatively new but rapidly growing practice known as “regenerative agriculture” is sweeping America’s farm country, and with it lies the potential for a new and more beneficial way of planting food plots. Here’s a look at why whitetail land managers might want to adopt a regenerative agriculture philosophy and how you can use these simple but profound principles to produce thriving food plots with less money, time, and adverse impacts.
What is Regenerative Agriculture and Why It Makes Sense for Food PlotsThe land we use to farm and create food plots is not merely a lifeless expanse of dirt but rather a living, breathing ecosystem managed by complex biological processes. A handful of healthy soil is full of microbes, fungi, bacteria, and earthworms all working together to create the nutrients and setting necessary for plant life while also serving numerous other purposes for the larger ecosystem around it.
Healthy soil covered in a diverse array of vegetation creates its own plant-growing fertilizer, sequesters carbon, better retains moisture, filters water, and reduces soil erosion. The traditional food plot routine of regularly spraying herbicide, tilling the soil, and dumping chemical fertilizers sabotages these natural processes. Regenerative agriculture, on the other hand, harnesses these earth-made mechanisms to retain and create healthier soil that produces a healthy crop with less fertilizer, herbicide, and time.
“We're trying to create a more resilient system, both from an ecological standpoint, but also from a financial standpoint,” Jason Snavely said on the Wired to Hunt Podcast. “It's really about trying to mimic those natural processes and those natural systems that are already in place and trying to work with them instead of trying to dominate them."
So how do we do this?
Putting Regenerative Agriculture Into ActionTo get a better sense of how we can apply this philosophy to food plots, let’s explore a few of the most relevant principles of soil health as defined by Gabe Brown, author of “Dirt to Soil” and regenerative agriculture expert.
Limit Disturbance A foundational premise of regenerative agriculture is that the disturbance of soil—whether physically or chemically—reduces soil health and the long-term productivity of the land. Brown explains that when a farmer, or food plotter, repeatedly discs or tills up soil it is effectively “tearing apart the house that nature builds to protect the living organisms in the soil that create natural fertility.”
Professional soil scientist Ray Archuleta puts it in even more stark terms. “Tillage is like taking a wrecking ball to your soil. You're breaking up the aggregates, destroying the pores, and compacting the soil. This leads to reduced water infiltration, increased runoff, and decreased nutrient availability.”
Chemical disturbance, in the form of synthetic fertilizers and herbicides, should be minimized as well. These chemicals, while ostensibly used to improve crop production, disrupt the processes that naturally build soil and cost a pretty penny too. If that’s not enough, spray drift from off-label use of herbicides has been shown to negatively impact important pollinator habitat and over-applied fertilizer routinely runs off into creeks, rivers, and lakes leading to toxic algal blooms.
How to Limit Disturbance on Your Food PlotFortunately, there are plenty of alternative approaches to food plot site prep that avoid or reduce these forms of disturbance. Rather than using a disc or roto-tiller to cultivate your food plots, consider using a no-till drill. Instead of tearing apart the ground, these drills cut a thin line in the soil, drop a seed into the divot, cover it, and press the soil down above. No-till planting practices have stormed the farming world in recent decades, and a number of wildlife-management-focused companies are already producing implements for hunters. Many local conservation districts have no-till drills available for rent as well.
There are numerous ways to no-till plant without a drill as well, such as frost seeding and other broadcast-focused planting styles that involve seeding into a standing crop of vegetation prior to a rain, terminating the weed growth, and then achieving germination with the help of the dead thatch layer laying overtop the seeds.
While herbicide use might still be necessary at certain phases of food plot prep or management, it’s recommended to minimize this practice as much as possible. For more on herbicide best practices and alternatives, read “4 Eco-Friendly Ways to Manage Food Plot Weeds.”
Armor Your Soil and Keep Living RootsThe next step to planting crops in a regenerative fashion is to ensure that your soil is covered and fosters living root systems year-round. “Bare soil is an anomaly,” Brown said. “Nature always works to cover soil. Providing a natural coat of armor protects soil from wind and water erosion while providing food and habitat for macro- and microorganisms.” Similarly, the year-round, living roots that come with keeping the surface armored provide the nutrients needed to nurture soil biology throughout the entire year.
How to Armor Your Food Plot Soil and Keep Living Roots The simplest way to do this is by planting food plots that include perennial species. This not only builds soil year-round but also suppresses the growth of undesirable weed species and prevents erosion.
Crops such as clover are attractive to whitetails, require minimal maintenance, and can last well over five years with one planting. If you’re looking to plant annual plots like brassicas or grains, you might consider a rotation program in which you plant one food plot early in the spring that suppresses warm-season weeds and builds soil fertility in the off-season. Then, plant a fall blend over top of it at the end of summer to focus on attracting deer for hunting season.
Jeff Sturgis, of Whitetail Habitat Solutions, has popularized one method of doing this by planting early spring buckwheat, which he then terminates at the end of summer and over-seeds with a more attractive hunting-focused blend. Dr. Grant Woods, of Growing Deer, has popularized another version of this that he refers to as the Buffalo Food Plot or “Release Process.”
DiversityMonocultures almost never occur in the natural world. Instead, we see diversity everywhere life thrives. Regenerative agriculture applies this same concept to the crops we plant. By planting a diverse blend of species in your plot, you achieve several benefits, including a reduced risk of complete crop failure. If one species in your blend lacks the nutrients, conditions, or water needed to grow, it’s likely that other species in the blend will still be able to persist. Throw enough darts at the board, and at least a few will stick, even in adverse conditions.
Even more importantly, diverse plant species grown together can actually collaborate to better utilize the resources at hand. “Grasses, forbs, legumes, and shrubs all live and thrive in harmony with each other,” Brown said. “Think of what each of these species has to offer. Some have shallow roots, some deep, some fibrous, some tap. Some are high-carbon, some are low-carbon, some are legumes. Each of them plays a role in maintaining soil health.”
For example, look at how a simple blend including clover and turnips might be able to work together. Clover is a legume that pulls nitrogen, an incredibly important fertilizing agent, from the atmosphere and transfers it into the soil. A neighboring turnip plant can utilize that nitrogen to grow to its fullest potential and then grow a large bulb that aerates the soil and eventually returns significant organic matter back into the ground. That organic matter will feed the clover the following spring as it emerges from dormancy, and the cycle begins again. All of this means that your plants can work together to provide the nutrition they need themselves, rather than depending on you to supplement with synthetic fertilizers that cost you money.
How to Implement Diversity on Your Food PlotThis one is easy. Avoid planting single-species food plots. Blended food plots not only provide the benefits mentioned above but also sustain a longer period of attraction to deer as different species come in and out of palatability throughout the year. Deer might visit your plot in September to feed on oats, key in on clovers in October, keep visiting in January for the brassicas, and then come through again in spring as your clover pops again. Fall blends, with a deer-attracting focus, might incorporate several types of clover, wheat, rye, oats, turnips, rape, sugar beets, triticale, and winter peas.
On the other hand, for those planting a blend in the spring primarily focused on soil building, a blend might include species that provide more organic matter and fix more nitrogen such as sunn hemp, buckwheat, sunflowers, soybeans, and sorghum. Companies like Vitalize Seed, Green Cover Seeds, and Drop Tine Seed Company all produce mixes along these lines developed specifically for wildlife food plots in line with regenerative ag principles.
Collaborating with EarthI’ve heard it said that regenerative agriculture is akin to the art of repairing ecosystems. If this is true, then we land managers have at our fingertips an opportunity to create a masterpiece. Rather than tearing down the house Mother Earth built in our effort to create better hunting, we can partner with soil, water, and sun to not only feed wildlife but also rebuild the land we steward from the ground up. So what are you waiting for?
A few years back, I decided it was time to change some things—or, I suppose some of that decision was made for me. Life has a way of doing that. One of the biggest changes was the amount of time I could dedicate to hunting. With just weekends and perhaps a week or two of vacation available each year, I knew it was critical to be as efficient as possible and maximize my available hunting time by minimizing the amount of time wasted.
And, when it comes to wasting time, bowhunters know more than anyone that gear can be a culprit. Oftentimes, we pick up the latest and greatest without realizing that it simply complicates things. So, I started eliminating and got rid of some of the clutter.
Here are a few of the things I ditched and haven’t missed since.
Bow AccessoriesI’m using the term “accessories” here because it may be a bit too crass to call it “crap.” That being said, hunters put a whole lot of stuff on bows that’s simply not necessary and, in my experience, only adds complexity to what should be a simple tool. I used to run a single-pin, adjustable sight, longer stabilizer, along with whatever latest and greatest new gadget came along.
Ultimately, it took longer to sight in, longer to tune, and increased the chance of mechanical failure. So, I stripped my bow down and now run a simple, but rugged three-pin sight and nothing more. I still use a stabilizer, but it’s a four-inch model that mainly serves as a place for attaching my wrist sling. I don’t miss the adjustable sight in the least and definitely don’t miss having more dongles dangling from my bow.
Piles of Stands and SticksI used to own an embarrassing number of tree stands. At one time, I had somewhere around 50 stands and climbing stick sets. With less time to hunt, I now have less time to rotate stands—or even set them up at all. So, I ditched all but a few and adopted a mobile approach. Yes, my tree saddle has replaced my need for a tree stand in some instances, but I also don’t think saddles are the best option in a lot of situations.
Rather than focusing on multiple stand setups, I have learned to rely on light stands and sticks that allow me to move locations quickly and with minimal hassle. An unexpected benefit of this lighter/faster/less hassle system? I’m more willing to take advantage of fresh sign. Previously, with dozens of stand locations in place, I was more tied to those locations even though I had lots of options. Now, I scout more intensely during the season and take advantage of what the deer are doing right then rather than what I “think” they might be doing in the future.
The Big PackIt makes me chuckle to think about the types of packs I used to carry for a day in the woods. I still carry a pack on occasion, but only when it’s completely necessary. And even then, it’s less than half the size of what I used to carry. At most, I’ll carry a few bottles of water, a couple of sandwiches, and maybe a trail camera. That’s it.
For most outings, I’ll opt for a small fanny pack that has just a few essentials—paracord for pulling up my bow, a roll of electrical tape (for securing tags to antlers, repairs, etc.), a bottle of water, and some food. I can’t even begin to explain the sense of freedom I feel not having a heavy, bulky pack on my back. By ditching it, I was able to pare down my gear to the essentials: what I need to hunt with and nothing more.
I’m not saying accessories, tree stands, and big packs don’t have their place. What I am saying is there’s a lot of value in taking a good, hard look at the way you hunt and the equipment you take with you into the field. Is the gear actually making your experience better? Or is it dead weight? It’s a question worth asking, and you’ll be surprised how far the answer can take you.
Ask any random elk guide what midwestern and eastern hunters tend to get wrong about heading to the mountains to chase bugles, and you’ll hear two quick answers. First, they’ll tell you that clients rarely get into real high-country shape, and, second, they’ll tell you about untested gear and the trouble it causes.
While holes in your gear game are easy to identify after a few days of living out of a wall tent at 8,000 feet, the same rules apply to whitetail hunting. Untested gear, brought directly to the field, is often a recipe for disaster.
This is where turkey season can be valuable to the whitetail hunter.
Clothing ConsiderationsMost whitetail hunters buy dedicated camo for their pursuit. Most turkey hunters don't. This means that a lot of turkey hunts happen in whitetail camo, and that’s actually a good thing because low-pressure, warm(ish) weather turkey hunts can tell you a lot about your deer duds.
Take the brand-new Trace lineup from First Lite. It’s designed for hunting whitetails in the heat, which also makes it a good candidate for a turkey hunt. This is due to the KineticGrid fabric that’s breathable, somewhat stretchy, incredibly comfortable, and quick-drying if you have to wade a stream or slog through the morning dew.
This isn’t just marketing speak. I wore the Trace Pant and Trace Quarter Zip shirt while scouting turkeys and during my first hunts of the season, after the temperatures went from freezing to beach weather in a matter of a couple days. In addition to camo duds, run-and-gun turkey hunts are also a great opportunity to test out new boots, a new backpack, a new bino harness, or whatever crossover gear you might use this fall.
Blinds & Blind ChairsHub-style ground blinds aren’t for everyone. But, if you hunt small properties, take kids turkey hunting, or simply want to set up where there aren’t suitable stand trees, then these blinds are the best choice. However, not all blinds are set up the same, and they certainly don’t hunt the same.
You don’t want to get into a likely deer spot this fall, only to realize your blind’s shooting windows are noisy or too small. Confidence in your gear comes from familiarity, so pay attention if you use a blind. Ask yourself some questions. How loud is the door zipper? Does your blind require you to use Velcro? If you keep the windows open a certain way, do the turkeys bust you moving? Because if they do, the deer will, too. How about your blind chair? Is it quiet? Do you find yourself bumping your bow or shotgun against it? Does it squeak? Is it comfortable after four hours of sitting?
If you plan to use your blind for spring turkeys and fall deer, pay attention. You’ll be better off learning all of its quirks now, long before the deer season starts.
All The Little ThingsWhen you think about the gear you use while turkey hunting, that might also be of use in the deer woods. It’s easy to miss some important stuff, like limb saws and pruners. Binoculars, rangefinders, and apps like onX all contribute to the average turkey hunt. If you don’t like your choices when you’re chasing longbeards, you really won’t like them when you’re hunting big bucks.
I tend to camp for at least a couple turkey hunts each spring, and that camping gear is the exact same stuff I use when I’m chasing public-land whitetails. Knives and coolers (hopefully) play a role, too. If there is something you love or hate, or are simply annoyed by, take note. There’s a lot of time between April and October, which means if you’re not satisfied, you can make a change.
It’s also important to point out that I’m not advocating for all-out shopping sprees every time you experience a little hiccup with your gear. Instead, figure out how to use your stuff better. Learn your gear through in-field usage, now. That way, you don’t have to struggle with it later when the pressure is higher than it is during turkey season. This is one of the reasons that whitetail hunters who scout hard during the off-season, also tend to kill more during the season. Sure, they are reaping the benefits of scouting by learning whitetail habits. But, they are also gaining confidence in their gear, which matters a lot.
For more deer gear advice, check out these articles: Is Your Deer Gun Overkill?, The Best Time To Upgrade Your Bow, and Hunting Gear That Will Actually Help You Kill More Bucks.
Mosquitoes, 90-plus-degree temperatures, and humidity so thick you can cut it with a knife—those add up to my kind of whitetail pursuit. Why? Because it’s a challenge to mentally and physically prepare yourself for the early season in the South.
Season openers across the South range from July to September. This time of year comes with a high chance of being uncomfortable, which is why it’s crucial to give yourself an advantage. Many hunters wait for cooler temperatures before they head to the woods, but I’ve never understood that way of thinking. Deer don’t wait for cooler temperatures to move, socialize, or engage in pre-rut or breeding. So, why should you?
Early-Season Whitetail BehaviorIt’s been proven that moon phases and temperature do not drastically affect whitetail movement. Just ask any Southern deer manager or check out research that backs it up. Whitetails are crepuscular, meaning they primarily move at dusk and dawn, and Matt Ross of the National Deer Association covers this topic in great detail. I can back up his research with my own personal research over the past 17 years. The best time to hunt is whenever you can. The best place to hunt is where deer will be based on seasonal behavior.
Every day, deer need to eat 6 to 8% of their body weight to maintain optimal health. That’s roughly 10 to 14 pounds per day for a 180-pound buck. Because of their need to consume high quantities, deer feed throughout the day and will routinely move during the middle of summer days and well before sunset on the hottest days. Furthermore, breeding activities are not curbed due to high temperatures (unlike what many hunters claim). Generally, it’s the hunter who’s uncomfortable, not the prey.
I primarily hunt at my family farm south in southwestern South Carolina. Our season runs from August 15 to January 1, which is a period that encompasses a wide range of weather conditions. Heat is a major factor through October, but can also be a factor well into December. Success in the South comes from understanding whitetail biology and hunting the appropriate locations during the appropriate time, regardless of weather conditions. By using this strategy, I manage to routinely kill early-season bucks, including several mature bucks in August and September.
Early-Season Whitetail Clothing KitLast August, I had the opportunity to try out First Lite’s new early-season Trace System. What I love about the design is its breathability and its capability to ventilate as needed—which happens to be quite often during muggy mornings and sweltering afternoons. To me, vents are a necessity. Your body temperature will rise significantly when walking into the woods with a mobile hunting setup, regardless of the time of day. And where I’m hunting, humidity and heat are consistent factors throughout the day.
The Trace System’s ventilation allowed me to regulate sweat and overall comfort. This proved to be an invaluable feature the morning I killed a five-year-old buck slipping back to his bedding site 45 minutes after first light. An isolated rain shower was dumping buckets before dawn and didn’t let up until just before I sighted the deer. Ventilation allowed me to stay both cool and dry during my sit, which led to my largest full-velvet buck to date.
Durability is another superior feature of the Trace System. The KineticGrid fabric promotes breathability while also providing a tough shield against dense understory growth, insects, and sun. It held up nicely while dragging out the same buck through thick, four-foot sawtooth blackberry bushes.
Additional Gear ConsiderationsIn order to reduce weight, I remove any unnecessary items from my early-season gear. For example, when Thermacell mosquito repellent hit the market in the late 1990s, the ability to shift from “bug suits” and heavy DEET spray to a simple Thermacell was a game changer.
I also wear uninsulated rubber boots for most of the year, primarily for scent control. I find snake-proof boots to be very hot and uncomfortable because they don’t breathe. And, while rubber isn’t known for its breathability, I wear my boots a tad loose to boost airflow. I prefer solid, waterproof boots to keep morning dew off of my feet.
As for my whitetail gear bag, I carry a single-strap waist “fanny pack” prior to breeding season with water, a Thermacell, a range finder, binoculars, a headlamp, and of course, Little Debbies, a Southern delicacy. I don’t use a chest strap for my binoculars, so I can keep my shirt loose and flowing—the same reason why I don’t use a full backpack until temperatures start to drop.
Ultimately, scent control is the number one factor to consider when planning an early-season whitetail hunt. You will sweat, and it will be impossible to eliminate human scent. However, you can combat perspiration and comfort with high-performance gear. Deer move during hot and nasty days. Do you want to wait until every hunter hits the woods after the first cold front, or would you rather fill your tag loaded with early-season, edible fat? The latter is my choice, and the Trace System, along with a strategy packing plan, is how I’ll get it done come August.
Want to learn more about early-season whitetail hunting and the gear to use for warm-weather pursuits? Check out this video that dives into the nitty gritty of the Trace System, and be sure to read How to Care for Venison in Hot Weather and How to Kill an Early-Season Buck in the Morning.
A while back, a significant portion of my time in the woods was spent creating video content. It was a full-scale endeavor, complete with a traveling cameraman and all the assorted accouterments that go along with it. I won’t say I hated it, but I can’t honestly say that I loved it either. The experience did, however, teach me a thing or two about what it takes to capture solid footage and tell a story about hunting that someone may actually enjoy watching.
I still like to capture video while afield, but my filming exploits these days are solo affairs that are done with no other motive than I enjoy doing it. Whether it’s YouTube or social media, there are more readily available outlets for sharing self-filmed videos today than ever before, and it seems the interest in self-filming hunts is higher than ever as well. But what does it take to pull off a self-filmed hunt? Well, it’s probably a bit more than you might think. Here are four realities of self-filming.
Filming Takes GearThis is probably the biggest annoyance of any in-hunt video project: The amount of crap you have to take to the woods. Even if you are self-filming, there’s still a certain amount of gear required, and hauling that stuff to the woods can be a chore, so I keep my self-filming setup as basic and simple as possible.
I use a palm-style Sony camcorder as my main rig. Lots of Instagram influencers will tout the merits of a mirrorless camera, and I’d wager it’s because they’ve not spent a whole lot of time in the woods using one in comparison to a small video camera. Make no mistake, a mirrorless camera with swappable lenses can capture superior video and produces a unique look, but, to me, they’re harder to use in a hunting situation. While the ability to use different lenses for different situations can certainly make some great shots, the lack of versatility and extra gear ends up being a hindrance in the woods.
In addition to a camera, you’ll need some method of keeping the camera steady and operating hands-free. I hunt from treestands or saddles most of the time, so I use a camera arm mounted to a tree. I made my own camera arm, it weighs just a couple of pounds and packs pretty well. But it still takes up space in my pack and adds some weight.
I’ll also run a GoPro or two on occasion. Those are small and light but, again, they need a method for operating hands-free, so I use a couple of clamp-on, flexible mounts.
Set Up TimeOne of my favorite feelings is the one that happens when I climb into a stand location well before daylight and know that I made a quiet approach and daylight brings plenty of promise.
But you know what really sucks? Knowing that after climbing into that stand setup, I still have another 15 minutes or so of jacking around with camera gear.
The quality of your self-filmed footage is heavily dependent on the quality of your setup. You need a stable camera arm and careful consideration of where that arm is placed so you have the space needed to maneuver it. And perhaps most important, you need the ability to operate your bow or gun and the camera at essentially the same time.
All of this takes time. Keep in mind that it also adds movement and noise to your setup.
The Story Won’t Tell ItselfThis is something that many seem to struggle with—you aren’t just pointing the video camera at a deer and making a shot. I suppose you can do that, but that’s not a storyline that tells anyone much of anything. The key to a great video is the story it tells, and those details are captured by recording everything you can.
And that can be a real chore.
I always find myself getting caught up in the act of the outing. I’m hunting. I’m scouting on my way to the stand. I’m monitoring the wind. I’m looking for indications of hunting pressure. I’m planning and plotting my next moves. And, in the process, it’s so very easy to forget to tell that story as it unfolds and it's so easy to just leave the video camera in my pack.
If I do happen to tag a good buck, even if I get the shot on camera, I’ve missed the opportunity to tell the full story. The bottom line is truly successful self-filming effort is about much more than just getting a kill shot on video.
Missed OpportunitiesI’ve never killed a 200-inch whitetail. But I had one standing broadside at 14 yards with a bow in my hand and a legal tag in my pocket.
I didn’t kill that buck, and I place the blame squarely on the video camera I had with me. I won’t go into the painful details, but I blew the opportunity and the video camera played a big role in the mishap.
Sure, it’s true I may still have found a way to flub the shot. But I know what happened, and had I not been trying to get the encounter on video, there would have been far less movement in the stand, less coordination needed to execute a shot, and less overall chaos introduced into what was an already intense moment.
When you add a video setup and the desire to use that setup to capture footage of your hunts, there is a given that must be accepted—it will cost you opportunities. Sooner or later, you’ll get caught by a buck as you mess with the camera, or you’ll miss a shot window as you try to get the shot positioned correctly.
To me, it’s just part of it. I still love to create video and, because I hunt alone almost exclusively, the camera sort of becomes a way for me to share the experiences I’m having even though no one is there with me at the time.
Self-filming isn’t easy, but it can be super rewarding and a ton of fun.
When I turned 11, I didn’t realize I was in for the longest year of my life. The wait until 12, which was the legal hunting age in my home state of Minnesota back then, was torture. I wanted to hunt in the worst way, but it wasn’t like my dad was going to take me to a state with a younger minimum age requirement.
This was pretty standard for a long time in the deer world. Now, there are quite a few states with no minimum age, which leaves it up to the parents to decide. I’m all for that and took full advantage of it when Wisconsin did away with its youth restrictions.
My twin daughters started deer hunting a full three years before I did, and while it has been a fun ride, it has also been a real learning experience for all involved. The lessons are many, but three stick out to me as the most poignant.
It’s Their Hunt, Not YoursI’ve taken a lot of people hunting for the first time, and it has gone a variety of ways. I wanted them all to have success, but not in the same way I wanted my daughters to succeed when they started deer hunting.
It became a mission of mine to put any legal deer within 20 yards of them. What I didn’t realize in that single-minded pursuit was that they didn’t care nearly as much as I did. I wanted it so badly for them that I overlooked the fact that the whole experience was new to them, and not just a mission to kill as quickly as possible.
This meant a lot of things. For starters, it meant working around their schedule, their tolerance for boredom, and their willingness to handle the weather. In other words, even if there was a cold front in late October, it didn’t mean anything if they had school, or simply didn’t want to sit for four hours in sub-freezing temps.
We catered our sits to warmer, more pleasant weather during whatever weekends we had free. While my girls are pretty patient with hunting, they are still young. All-day sits weren’t going to happen, and I needed to think in terms of three or four-hour time frames at most. In so many ways, it became clear that when it was time for them to hunt, it was time for me to simply guide them. Once I did, it became a hell of a lot of fun.
Don’t Add To The PressureI’ve personally bow-killed probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 125ish big game animals. Even with a resume like that, I screw up all of the time. I still get buck fever, I still miss, and I still get busted.
I needed to remind myself of that, often, when I started hunting with my daughters. As bad as I wanted them to succeed, mistakes were inevitable. Some they made, some I made, but they happened on every hunt.
Some cost us deer, some didn’t. But they happened, and they’ll keep happening. It sucks in the moment, but the truth is, the best hunters aren’t made from easy success. They are made from failure. There might be nothing more valuable in creating a lifelong hunter than several years of mostly screwing up, punctuated by a few sweet moments of success.
Acknowledging that is a great step toward not putting more pressure on kids to succeed. It’s hard not to step in and do everything possible for them, but it’s worth it to give them a safe amount of autonomy in their close encounters with deer. And if they screw up, let it go.
Everything Is A LessonI started scouting with, and taking my daughters on my deer hunts, long before they actually hunted. I wanted them to learn about the process of being a hunter. Every blind we set up, camera we hung, or bit of sign we found, was a lesson in and of itself.
When we hunt together, the lessons come in many forms. How and when to move, what certain sounds mean in the woods, and what to do when a shot isn’t perfect. The list is endless, and it’s an amazing thing to be a part of, especially if you’re at the stage of your hunting career when so many aspects of a hunt are almost second nature.
This extends far beyond some of the obvious aspects of deer hunting, too. For example, if you put some level of your trophy standards on a young hunter, the potential for a bad hunt rises. Let them decide for themselves, before the hunt, but also when a deer walks in. My daughters talk a big game about deer, but when any legal deer is in front of them, they go from selective to bloodthirsty. There’s a lesson there, and it’s a good one for all of us to experience.
While I’ve learned these things from my twin girls, I’ve also learned something else about deer hunting with them—I enjoy it more when they hunt than when I do. I know that probably sounds crazy to some, but it’s true.
It’s also true that hunting with them has reminded me of, and taught me, so many important lessons.
If you want to read more about hunting deer, give these articles a look: How I Made Deer Hunting Fun Again, Why I Love To Shoot Young Bucks, and Where To Shoot A Deer.
The key to winter scouting effectively isn’t just locating as much sign as possible. It is, instead, about filtering your findings through a mental screen to separate them into two piles— nighttime and daytime sign.
Since you’re about five months too late to have any chance to see when the sign was actually made, this is all about educated guessing. The rub on the field edge? That was probably made at night. The rub 200 yards deep in the timber? That one was likely made in the daylight.
This is the sign that matters, and it only gets better if you find a big concentration of sign that was likely made during legal shooting hours.
Ranking Sign Tracks, beds, rubs, scrapes, and trails all represent deer sign. But just like with deciphering if a rub was probably made in daylight, some of this sign means very little to your hunting season. Finding a bed right now, deep in a cattail slough, for example, might only mean that deer bed in that geothermal cover in the winter. Does that finding translate to actionable intel in the fall? Maybe.
The same goes for tracks and trails. If either is tied to an obvious winter food source, and not tied directly to a terrain feature that should funnel movement at any time of the season, it’s not that valuable.
While a lot of this involves guessing, you can know with near certainty that the rubs you find now, and many of the scrapes, were made during the hunting season. They rank the highest, and everything else falls a little lower in the sign hierarchy.
The Best Sign To Find, Right NowA lot of hunters get really excited to find scrapes, but I’m not one of them. I’ve found active scrapes during nearly every month of the year. I’ve also run cameras on all kinds of scrapes, which has shown me a hell of a lot of nocturnal movement. Bucks do visit them in daylight, of course, but in my experience, the ratio of nighttime to daytime visits is skewed heavily toward the dark.
For me, winter scouting becomes a worthwhile endeavor when I start finding rubs—especially lots of rubs located deep in the cover. This sign has high odds of originating during daylight hours, and higher odds of showing me where bucks spent real time during the season. But, even concentrations of rubs come in two forms.
Travel versus Staging RubsA rub line tells you a lot about where a buck, or bucks, traveled last fall. This is good intel and can certainly help you figure out bedding areas, food sources, and the travel routes between. A concentration of rubs that isn’t an obvious line, is a different story.
These almost always represent staging areas and are often found along edge cover. They’ll be in places where bucks felt confident moving in daylight, which is important. A buck that is willing to get out of his bed and make rubs in a specific spot, over several days, is one that has revealed a deer secret—he felt safe there.
This is due to a variety of factors, including available cover, sight lines, and wind. A buck that has decent cover, solid visuals, and can use the wind to detect predators from directions he can’t see, is a buck that is going to believe he’s safe. He won’t be the only one who understands the advantage of a spot like that, either.
A concentration of rubs in a small area like this tells you even more than that, however. Rubs facing multiple, seemingly random directions mean that the deer likely spent a lot of time there, and that it’s probably close to a bedding area. It also tells you that there was probably some pressure, that pushed them deeper into the security cover.
I see this all of the time on public land, and it’s almost always tied to hunting pressure on the field edges, logging roads, and other easy-access spots. Do you know what that means? Next season, when the same hunters hunt the same spots, the deer will probably use the same areas to avoid them.
If you find a truly rubbed-up area this spring, you can bet that by a week or two into the upcoming season, some bucks will have pulled back to the safety of cover. This is one of the reasons people buy into the October Lull so much. The truth is, your job right now is to find where the bucks are going to be during the season, and that is going to be where they feel safe.
If you want to read more about how to get better at deer scouting, check out these pieces: When Should You Start Scouting For Whitetails, How To Improve Your Whitetail E-Scouting, and 3 Ways To Improve Your Winter Whitetail Scouting.
If you’re serious about becoming a better bowhunter, winter is a great time to hone your archery skills. To become a better archer, contrary to flashy social media trends, you don’t need to test out your bottom pin and send arrows into the next county. The fact is, you can become a better archer right from the comfort of your basement. All you need is your top pin and a 10-yard range. To become a better archer, rather than blind repetition, you’ll need a plan. Here’s your blueprint for becoming a better archer this off-season.
Learn to Tune Your BowTry as you might, without a well-tuned bow, your archery game will continually suffer. While I’m a big advocate for supporting your local archery shop, it’s far too easy to push off that pro shop tune-up and gain a false sense of confidence that your bow is tuned well enough. To ensure your bow remains in tune and shooting to its best capability, knowing how to tune your bow yourself is a skill set you’ll never regret learning.
While you could write a book on the different methods to tune a compound bow, learning to paper-tune is a good place to start. Start off with setting your arrow rest and nocking point in accordance with the manufacturer’s center shot specs. With a few shots through paper, you might only need to bump your arrow rest a few clicks in either direction to get your arrow flying true. However, sometimes it’s not that easy with all the factors at play. For errant arrow flight, hop online and find a comprehensive guide to paper tuning. Even if you need to invest several hours into your tune, you’ll find new confidence in your bow and ensure good arrow flight when you screw on your broadheads next fall.
Break Down Your FormAn accurate and repeatable archery shot has many components, each requiring attention. A good shot begins with a proper stance that gets your body lined up to the target anatomically. Next, you’ll want to study your grip and find the hand position that’s most repeatable with minimal muscle manipulation and torque. From there, you’ll focus on repeatable anchor points and peep-to-sight housing alignment. Last but not least, you’ll want to learn how to master your release aid to execute a clean release and follow through.
Rather than trying to focus on each of these factors at the same time, it’s easier to focus on each aspect independently. For example, when studying your grip, give your grip 100% of your focus and temporarily turn a blind eye to the rest of your shot execution. After mastering each piece of your form independently, you’ll eventually be able to put all of the pieces together and execute a shot that feels as clean as any shot you’ve ever released before. A great resource for learning more about proper shot execution is John Dudley’s YouTube series that he calls “School of Nock.” If you’re serious about improving your form, Dudley’s course walks you through each aspect of the shot sequence and offers vetted advice on how to better each piece of your archery form.
Blank BaleAfter breaking down your form, piece by piece, blank bale shooting can be a great way to reinforce your newly perfected form. The idea is to feel each shot, focusing only on your form, and eliminating the pressure that aiming at a bullseye introduces to your shot sequence. For anyone going through target panic, blank baling can be your best friend.
For those of you not familiar with blank bale shooting, the concept is simple. It’s called blank bale shooting because you’ll be shooting at a blank target, no five-spot target, and no bullseye. Stand just a few yards from your archery target and draw your bow as you normally would. After settling into your anchor point and roughly centering your pin on the target, close your eyes. By closing your eyes, you turn your focus from centering up your pin on the target to focusing exclusively on your form.
Execute your shot with your eyes closed. If you punched your release, if you torqued your grip, or if your bow arm got the yips, you will feel the results, and it will profoundly stand out. The beauty of blank baling is that you don’t care where your arrow ends up; instead, you’re exclusively focusing on how well your form was executed.
Develop a RoutineLike anything, getting good at something takes repetition, targeted repetition. Even if it’s only a few arrows a day, developing a shooting routine will help rewire your brain and will ensure that your newly improved archery form becomes muscle memory. Muscle memory is your friend when that buck of a lifetime is coming through your shooting lane, and adrenaline causes the wheels to come off the bus.
If confined to your basement throughout the winter, or even out of convenience for the remainder of the year, keep your basement archery range up and running. Consider implementing blank bale practice into your daily shooting routine. Some of the best target shooters in the world begin and end each archery session with a round of blank baling.
To keep things interesting, consider purchasing scaled-down paper targets, whether it be a five-spot NFAA style target, a three-spot Vegas target, or even big game animal targets. These scaled-down targets feature shrunken scoring rings to make a 10-yard shot more difficult and comparable to a standard-sized target at 20 yards. Anything you can do to keep things interesting and stick with your archery routine will make you a better archer in the long run.
The devil is in the details. It’s a played-out statement, but true. This goes for a lot of aspects of life and certainly applies to bowhunting whitetails. We tend to reasonably focus on the big-picture stuff, like where and when we should hunt, but the heavy lift of actually filling tags tends to boil down to the minutiae.One of the details that get almost no love in bowhunting circles is peep sight choice. This is partially due to the reality...
I came to the realization in the fall of 2021 that I managed to make deer hunting not fun.“I’d lost sight of what makes hunting fun," I wrote last summer about this epiphany. "I’d gotten too goal-oriented, too strung out, too stressed, too worried about what other people think, and too busy for others. And I hated it…When the season ended, I took stock of what had happened and what I could learn from it, and then dedicated myself to...
At any given time of year, you’re likely to find Hayden Bailey outside, whether he’s catching catfish and snapping turtles, shooting squirrels, deer hunting, or pursuing one of his greatest passions: shed hunting. The Chillicothe, Illinois, resident loves to spend every minute outside, especially with his wife, Abby, and their small children. In fact, Bailey has always been an outdoorsy guy, tagging along with his dad to look for sheds and...
Leaving treestands up for a full year is a bad idea. Leaving them up for several years is far worse. Yet, quite a few hunters do this with both hang-on and ladder stands. Not only is this unsafe, but it’s also often not the best strategy if you want to kill nice bucks.A blank-slate strategy with your ambush sites is a much better way to approach the year, even though this does require more work. The effort is worth it, for three very compelling...
Shane Indrebo, lifelong whitetail fanatic and co-owner of the North American Shed Hunters Club, credits a few simple tactics for finding a whopping 129 sheds last year.While many shed hunters wait until the spring thaw, Indrebo typically starts searching in January and begins his recon even earlier.“When I start thinking about shed hunting for the year, I keep an eye out to see where crops have been left for the winter,” Indrebo told MeatEater...
We just can’t help ourselves. As hunters, we continually ride waves of trophy obsession, but they always eventually crash. When they do, we usually lean into the experience of the hunt for a few years. But, over time, the swells build, and we find ourselves right back to the antlers-over-everything mindset.The latest example of this cycle occurred within about the last 10 or 12 years. Before that, network outdoor television and print magazines...
We might be living in the golden age of whitetails across America. But the same can’t be said for many of the other animals, fish, birds, and bugs that share the landscape with our favorite big game animal.Scientists are now warning of a slow-rolling mass extinction event taking place across the world that’s threatening hundreds of thousands of different species, even here in America. This “biodiversity crisis,” as it’s commonly referred to...
I'm hitting the road this month to kick off the Working for Wildlife Tour, and I'm hoping to see you there.Unbeknownst to many, there are hundreds of events put on across the country every year by conservation organizations bringing together hunters and anglers to volunteer their time to improve wildlife habitat, restore ecosystems, and clean up public lands and waters. Too many of these events slip by under the radar without the attention or...
In the winter, deer require about 1.5 quarts of water per day for every 100 pounds of body weight. During warmer, summer months, their hydration needs double. This is worth knowing, no matter when or where you hunt whitetails.Even in areas where water isn’t in short supply, identifying the most likely spots for a buck to slake his thirst is a solid strategy. Where water is limited, it can be a bigger draw than food, bedding, or any of the other...
This is it. March is the month where, if you want to set yourself up for success this season, you need to hit the woods. Yet, for all of its obvious value, winter scouting seems to be an oft-preached, but little-practiced, aspect of whitetail hunting.The best public land hunters you know of all burn serious boot leather this month. They know the benefits of finding last season’s sign while taking a look at the bare woods, and they know how it...
If you’re on the outside looking in, shed hunting appears to be a simple endeavor. Just walk some cut cornfields, grid-search a few bedding areas, and then figure out where in your man-cave, or she-shed, you’ll display your findings.As if. In truth, shed hunting mirrors the greater whitetail community. If you have primo ground to work with, the whole thing is pretty easy. If you don’t, it’s not. That’s not meant to deter newcomers, but instead...
Shawn Luchtel’s shed season looks a little different from the average whitetail hunter’s.The founder of Heartland Bowhunter, who consistently puts mature bucks on the ground, almost exclusively searches for sheds on his private hunting land in Missouri. Generally, Luchtel will wait until March—when just about all bucks have dropped their antlers—to scour the 1,500-2,000 acres he shed hunts.“The majority of March I spend shed hunting, and then...
Consistently successful shed collectors are a lot like good treasure hunters. Yes, I’m talking about those folks who miraculously strike gold on the seafloor or find centuries-old wooden chests filled with rubies.Do you know what a treasure hunter never does? Walk aimlessly along the shore, hoping to stumble on what he seeks. A real-life pirate-loving treasure hunter has a map and reference points, and a plan that, all together, makes him more...
Joe Shead is living up to his last name.The founder of Go Shed Hunting estimates he’s picked up 1,000 antlers over the years and labels each of them with the exact spot it came from. As a party trick, he allows friends to choose any shed from his impressive collection and then proceeds to recite specific details of the find. The man knows his sheds.For him, shed hunting is about more than just a way to kill time in the offseason or find out if...
The last time I took a deer into a processor was in 1998. I was a senior in high school and had arrowed a clueless two-year-old in September. Normally, my dad and I would have packed that buck full of ice and butchered him ourselves, but we had just butchered a deer my dad had shot a few days earlier and didn’t feel like cutting another one up.It didn’t take long, once we picked up the meat, to realize that it was subpar. At least the packages...
Many bowhunters these days are turning their attention to heavy-hitting arrows, desiring an arrow that will pass through anything in its path. Of course, this comes at the expense of a slow-moving arrow and an unforgiving trajectory. If instead, you seek an optimal middle ground, you likely find yourself walking a fine line between speed, accuracy, forgiveness, and penetration. Let’s take a look at what it takes to penetrate a deer’s shoulder...
While it isn’t burning as hot as it was a decade ago, the crossbow-versus-vertical-bow debate is still a hot-button issue. Even though the arguments are pretty played out at this point, there are still plenty of folks ensconced on both sides.While there are several points of contention between both sides, one that isn’t easily answered asks, is crossbow hunting really archery hunting? To start to suss out the answer, it’s best to acknowledge the...
If your 2022 deer season went exactly as planned, read no further. However, if you find yourself here with an open mind, willing to glean a little knowledge from every outlet possible, this one’s for you.While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, reflecting on your previous deer hunting seasons and evaluating your shortcomings is a darn good place to start. Last season, did certain wind directions give you fits? Did a lack of scouting prevent...
I know what you’re probably thinking; why would anyone bother backpack hunting for whitetails? You don’t need to hunt the backcountry to find a whitetail, I can find one within eyesight of the truck. If this is you, backpack whitetail hunting isn’t for you.But if you’re the type who craves adventure, aspires to backpack hunt the west, or are looking for the oldest buck in the forest, a backpack whitetail hunt may be just what the doctor ordered...
Other than humans, few mammals besides white-tailed deer have the flexibility and fortitude to live wherever they choose.As Rollin H. Baker details in the 1984 book “White-tailed Deer: Ecology and Management,” South America’s whitetails thrive from Peru’s humid, sea-level tropics to just above tree-line at 13,450 feet in northwestern Bolivia. And whitetails in North America vary from herds thriving in cypress swamps across the Deep South to...
I heard a loud “SNAP” reverberate from my knee like a gunshot long before I felt any pain. It was during a rugby game in my sophomore year of college, and I had just twisted awkwardly while bouncing out of a tackle when my left knee decided to explode like a firecracker, dropping me to the ground. I felt the pain then, writhing in the mud with my teammates gathered around me. It was the first week of the playoffs, and I knew I would be out for...
At one point or another, we’ve all dreamed about having a property of our own or access to ground no one else can hunt. Heck, maybe you own ground or have this kind of access right now. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been on both ends of the spectrum. I’ve spent most of my hunting seasons scouring public land with periodic access to private property. Over the years one thing has become very clear, regardless of access to private, I’ll never...
It’s hard to find a deer hunter today who isn’t using trail cameras. They litter whitetail properties across the country, consume our waking minds, and use a heap of LTE bandwidth and cloud storage too. In short, they’re everywhere. But what is rare is the hunter using his or her photos to their full potential.The average camera user, simply admiring trail cam pictures and showing them off to buddies, barely scratches the surface of what this...
One of my favorite ways to spend time during late December or throughout January is to pheasant hunt with my Labs. Busting through cattail sloughs in search of public land roosters is as enjoyable to me as deer hunting is, and I often invite people to hunt with me. I always warn them that they’ll be working hard, so they should dress lightly. They never listen.They look at the forecast, which often calls for highs in the single digits or lower...
I can vividly remember the first hunting video I ever watched. It was “Bowhunting October Whitetails,” and it featured the Wensel Brothers, Gene and Barry. The impact of that production on my life as a hunter was profound. I had killed very few bucks with my bow at that time, but I immediately adopted the “don’t pick the fruit before it’s ripe” mantra portrayed in that video.I started passing young bucks, ditched the old-school homemade ladder...
Just as premier wines come from the grapes of stressed vines, cool antlers with great character often come from bucks who suffered broken bones, harsh diseases, or crippling injuries.As Demi Lovato sings, “Nothing is more beautiful than the smile that struggled through tears.” Admirable antler traits are subjective, of course, and vary by admirer. Still, most hunters find charm in the bowls, furrows, sharp angles, palmations, flat edges, and...
We all know that once a deer hits the ground the real work begins. Typically, our options for a getting our venison back to the truck are pretty simple—drag it out or quarter it up and haul it out piece by piece. However, there is a third option. You can carry the deer on your back. I learned this old method from James Lawrence, a 72-year-old veteran whitetail hunter from the mountains of Arkansas. James was taught how to “shock pouch” a deer by...
I remember when I decided to focus my efforts primarily toward hunting whitetails on public land. I’d grown enamored with the idea of hunting deer that faced lower pressure and had higher chances of reaching maturity, and I wanted to tackle different types of terrain and learn how deer travel through environments different than those around my home.Public lands were the ideal solution for my situation, since I wasn’t in any financial position to...
The .223 Remington was designed for the battle, not the field. Militaries want a cartridge that can inflict enough damage to take an enemy off the table, while remaining light and small enough to pack conveniently.Of course, hunters have adopted a wide array of cartridges originally designed for military use. If the .223 Rem. (or, more accurately, the military’s 5.56 NATO) can take down a combatant, surely it has enough juice to take down a...
Products go through popularity cycles. In the hunting realm, the best example of something that was hot, then not, and is now hot again, would be the tree saddle. The runner-up might be beefy, sharp-as-a-razor, single- and double-bevel broadheads.Single-bevel heads, with their one angled edge, are designed to produce more rotation. This, provided it’s working in concert with the helical of your fletching (and not against it), should create...
Consistent whitetail success and enjoyment hinges on two very different aspects of every hunt.The first involves all of the stuff we can’t control, like weather, the actions of other hunters, and the cosmic, known-only-to-them whims upon which all deer operate. The second is what we can control, which can just as easily tank any random sit. Defaulting to an easy field edge stand when you should be in the timber, ignoring loads of fresh sign in...
It’s early in November, way back in a piece of public land, and you shoot a big, mature buck. Now the work begins. Many hunters don’t think about what to do after an animal is on the ground. Depending on where you’re hunting, it’s a good idea to have a few options to get your deer back to the truck.If you don’t have the luxury of driving a side-by-side, tractor, truck, or even riding a flashy mule up to your destination, you’ll need to use your...
Opening day is long gone. The wild ride of the rut is in our rearview mirror. Gun season might even be old news. But one thing for sure is not past. Trail cam season.Yes. This most beloved deer hunting tool is just as useful now in the late season as it was during all of those previous high points of the deer hunting year. But how, where, when, and why you use these devices should all be different now than at other times of the year. Here’s how...
Somewhere between a traditional rifle hunt and an archery hunt lives a muzzleloader hunt. It’s a medium-range weapon for most folks, despite the outlier tinkerers who push serious high-caliber rifle range with their front stuffers.Muzzleloader seasons also tend to fall, at least in quite a few states, after the bulk of the other weapon seasons have passed. They are mostly a late-season affair and demand attention to staying quiet, staying warm...
The secondary rut gets talked about occasionally, and many hunters think it’s just a hoax. I wasn’t a non-believer, but I hadn’t seen it for myself enough to truly believe in it for a while. In Pennsylvania, the secondary rut happens during our firearms season, making it difficult to know if deer are just running from the orange army or actively seeking and chasing does. Five years ago, I started leaving my trail cameras in the big woods all year...
Play the wind. Play the wind. Play the wind.You can’t get five minutes of deer hunting advice from anyone without hearing that phrase. And for good reason. If you want to kill deer, you do need to play the wind. But, as is the case with most things in deer hunting, it’s not quite as simple as it sounds. Especially if you’re hunting mature bucks.For those who consistently achieve that particular task, playing the wind involves not just keeping...
The Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Research and Management Act (H.R. 5608) has been years in the making, but it’s only one vote away from heading to the president’s desk. Unfortunately, the bill doesn’t have that last vote yet.My understanding is that Mr. Rand Paul, the Junior Senator from Kentucky, has placed the lone hold on this legislation and is keeping it from passing. All 99 other members of the United States Senate have offered their...
The rut is a marathon for both bucks and hunters. We find ourselves run down, tired, hungry, and thirsty when it's all over. We retreat to our fridges and pantries while the bucks do their best to find a soft spot to lay down with the wind at their back close to food and water.Good bedding and food can come in many forms and locations, but water is often limited and hard to come by when temperatures drop and things start freezing. Honing in on a...
We are thrilled to announce that The Element crew is officially joining the MeatEater crew! Tyler Jones and K.C. Smith will be combining forces with Mark Kenyon, Tony Peterson, Spencer Neuharth, Clay Newcomb, and the rest of the MeatEater whitetail team to bring you the freshest whitetail reports, innovative hunting strategies, and so much more."We're stoked to be joining the Meateater team!” K.C. said. “It will give us the ability to...
Traditional late-season advice on finding and killing December bucks tends to center on food sources. You’ve heard it many times—from many people who have good places to hunt with quality late-season food sources.What if you don’t have a cut cornfield or plot full of brassicas that deer gravitate to every afternoon as they try to get a caloric edge on the coming winter? Well, you’re not alone. Most of us don’t. The truth of the matter with that...
The whitetail rut gives the best odds for putting your tag on a big woods buck. Once the rut ends, movement is at an all-time low, with deer trying to recover and hide from any human intrusion. I used to think that this time of year was nearly impossible to be consistent with killing mature bucks, other than the occasional luck from another hunter bumping a deer into you. I realized that I was looking at this season wholly wrong and needed to...
For most people, the worst month to hunt just might be December.I know I’m supposed to paint a rosy picture of rut-worn bucks sprinting into food sources during cold afternoons, but that’s mostly BS. If you hunt where there’s any real pressure at all, the twelfth month of the year is often an exercise in futility. This is true regardless (and often in spite) of weather conditions.It’s not a lost cause, of course. If we view hunting solely with...
There’s a scene in just about every murder-mystery show where the detective is locked in his office with pictures, note cards, and maps tacked to a wall with strings connecting one thing to the other. A pattern, a clue, a connection–the investigator is searching for anything that can help him solve the riddle at hand. This is exactly how it feels most days during the whitetail season for a deer hunter as he or she tries to figure out where to...
The prospects of finding a mature whitetail buck on public land may seem like a fool’s errand and leave you disheartened. You’ve watched truck after truck leave your local public hunting area, presumably all donning firearms and all filling their tags. Why would you waste your time and sit in a proverbial snowbank, trying to fill your deer tag? The truth is, it can be a very difficult time to find a mature buck and kill him. On the contrary, what...
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, but not because of the turkey, football, or Black Friday deals (speaking of which, you can get up to 40% off on a ton of MeatEater, First Lite, Phelps, and FHF Gear right now). Thanksgiving kicks ass because it means a long weekend of good deer hunting. I know, the rut is basically over for most of the country, but that doesn’t mean big bucks won’t make mistakes at the end of November. One particular study...
Growing up, my father and I always considered the opener of Minnesota’s gun season as the end of our bow season. The properties we hunted all had plenty of shotgun groups with permission as well, so we handed over the keys to the woods to the orange army. It never bothered me much, for the first week or so. But it didn’t take long before the urge to get into a stand would take over. Eventually, I found a few places where I could bowhunt mid-week...
Hunting whitetails in the big woods is complex. With very few designated food sources, thick cover seemingly everywhere for deer to bed, and low deer densities, the rut is the one time of year when you can increase your odds of success. It’s easy to get caught up in trying to figure out all the details and having paralysis by analysis. Doe bedding, buck bedding, food sources, and everything in between can be tough to identify when hunting the big...
When it comes to getting away from hunting pressure during the rut, the key is timing and putting distance between yourself and other hunters. Deer, especially mature bucks, will typically only tolerate a small amount of human intrusion. They are going to find areas where hunters aren't, so that means you need to as well. Stay creative and separate yourself from the masses to get close to a pressured public land buck this fall. Double Down on...
The whitetail rut consists of does coming into heat and bucks looking to breed them. It’s a simple concept and applies in all areas of the country where whitetails roam. The definition of the rut might be the same, but it varies regionally depending on your location and habitat type. Over the years, I’ve hunted the rut throughout the Appalachian mountains in the big woods, as well as the agricultural settings found in the Midwest and Canada...
Every week this fall, I’ll be providing updates on whitetail buck movement for the entire country. These reports are based on intel from whitetailers in each region and my own observations as a traveling deer hunter. For more info like this, subscribe to the Rut Fresh Radio Podcast and Whitetail Weekly Newsletter. Rut Fresh Reports are powered by onX. Much of the country will be on the other side of the rut by this weekend, but that doesn’t mean...
While filming our second season of One Week in November earlier this month, I faced a dilemma. Where I thought the Wisconsin bucks would be cruising was a dead zone. By November 6th, that much was clear. It was also clear that I needed to take advantage of my last day of hunting, so I went looking. What I eventually found clued me into current buck movement. Even at the point in the season when that movement should have been random—it wasn’t. It...
The rut is the special time of year that whitetail hunters live for. But it's also just that, a time of the year. It doesn’t last long—a month or so is about the best you can hope for. Maximizing your time during that magical period is critical. That said, life has a way of getting in the way, and most of us have to choose our shots. So what’s your shot? Is it morning? Is it evening? Let’s break them down. Benefits of Morning Rut Hunts Personally...
My trail camera strategy during the rut is more inventory-based than trying to time movement with an exact setup location. Leading up to the rut I’ve already scouted heavily (both boots on the ground and studying maps) to identify critical areas where a buck will move or use terrain or cover to find does. Trail cameras can be a great tool, acting as your eyes in numerous areas since you can’t be in more than one place at once. Whether you’re...
Every week this fall, I’ll be providing updates on whitetail buck movement for the entire country. These reports are based on intel from whitetailers in each region and my own observations as a traveling deer hunter. For more info like this, subscribe to the Rut Fresh Radio Podcast and Whitetail Weekly Newsletter. Rut Fresh Reports are powered by onX. The rut is a bell curve that climaxes in mid-November. Every day you get closer to that date...
All-day sits are like catching six-pound smallmouth, or shooting 300-pound black bears. Everyone says they do it, but few rarely do. I’m surrounded by folks who identify as hardcore whitetail hunters, and by most accounts, they are. Yet, most of them don’t pull a single dark-to-dark sit during the rut on any given year. You know what? They still kill bucks. A lot of them kill great bucks. The moral of the story is the least surprising part of...
We look forward to the rut with endless optimism, hoping that this is the year that it brings us the buck of a lifetime. The beauty of the rut is that this kind of luck is never out of the question. Even in the grimmest hunting environments, bucks are chasing does somewhere. However, if this sort of luck never seems to roll your way, here are a few ways to improve your rut strategy. Remain Flexible and Mobile It’s human nature to do things the...
Jordan Budd explains her strategy for getting Steve on a big Nebraska buck and some of the challenges they faced along the way. Click here to watch the whole episode now.
We’ve all read articles stressing the importance of sitting all day during the rut. For those of you who’ve experienced the phenomenon of a midday buck parade, you’ve likely got the program figured out. For anybody out there who’s spent countless midday hours watching nothing but squirrels, this article is for you. There are two important factors that contribute to a productive all-day rut hunt, selecting a location in which deer are likely to...
Every week this fall, I’ll be providing updates on whitetail buck movement for the entire country. These reports are based on intel from whitetailers in each region and my own observations as a traveling deer hunter. For more info like this, subscribe to the Rut Fresh Radio Podcast and Whitetail Weekly Newsletter. Rut Fresh Reports are powered by onX. This is it—the rut is here. If you whitetail hunt in the East, Midwest, or West, these next...
A good layering system is key to staying out in the whitetail woods long enough to find the big buck of your dreams. Hours of glassing require warmth, but when hoofing it to that vantage point, you better be able to shed a layer or two. This complete system will have you ready for any situation throughout the season. Check out Episode 2 of MeatEater Season 11 to watch Steve, Clay, and I hunt Nebraska whitetails, live on the MeatEater website now!
Calling a whitetail into shooting range is simply one of the coolest things you can do as a hunter. Not to mention, it’s awfully effective. But (and when it comes to good things there’s always a but), if you use your calls at the wrong times or in the wrong ways they can do more harm than good. Here is a simple breakdown of how to call to bucks the right way, at the right times, during each different phase of the whitetail season. Early Season...
The term “trolling” carries with it one very specific tactic. You drop a line in the water let it flow out behind the boat and drive around in circles hoping to stumble across a fish. But we’re deer hunters, right? Trolling has no application in the woods. Except, there is. I was hunting with a good friend somewhere around eight years ago when I first tried it. We talked about the concept for several seasons. Finally, while on a trip West and...
Deer decoys aren’t just for the Midwest. You don’t have to be immersed in agriculture fields or extensive, well-manicured food plots (but they can certainly help). From my experience, pinpointing your local peak breeding window and exactly where does will be in late October and early November are key factors. I’ve always believed the best decoy is a doe, and I’ve killed many good bucks using that style. Why mimic a doe in heat? Well, consider...
Every week this fall, I’ll be providing updates on whitetail buck movement for the entire country. These reports are based on intel from whitetailers in each region and my own observations as a traveling deer hunter. For more info like this, subscribe to the Rut Fresh Radio Podcast and Whitetail Weekly Newsletter. Rut Fresh Reports are powered by onX. As I said in last week’s Rut Fresh Report, the end of October is a good time to be in the...
The rut is the promised land. It’s the great equalizer between hunter and hunter, and hunter and whitetail. It’s a couple-week period that is destined to deliver dumb deer to us, and if we’re lucky, provide a magical encounter or two that makes it all worth the wait. Except, it mostly doesn’t. The rut is kind of like a trip to Disney World. The buildup is incredible, but the reality is that most of the time you’ll be waiting in line while...
In late September, one of my daughters hit a young buck with her crossbow. The Wisconsin 5-pointer, which led us on a long and fruitless blood trail, looked pretty healthy when I jumped him 600 yards from the impact site. He looked even healthier the following week when he showed up on one of my trail cameras. It was a tough lesson for a young hunter, but drove home a point that we should all obsess over—shot angles. In the bowhunting world, we...
Every hunter knows that deer are attracted to acorns but knowing when and how to target an acorn browse pattern is a refined skill. The acorn crop varies from year to year, depending on environmental factors, which adds to the difficulty in targeting acorn browsing patterns. On a micro level, the acorn crop will vary even further, depending upon the orientation, age, and environmental conditions of that tree’s location. As difficult as it may be...
Outdoor writers have been opining about still hunting being a lost art since I was a little kid reading issues of my dad’s hunting magazines. I don’t know if it was then, but it certainly is now. This type of slower-than-glacial-pace hunting isn’t even in the conversation anymore for most folks, but it should be. Still hunting is a chance to be active, sort of, while getting on the ground and melting into the forest. It’s not easy, but it sure is...
Every week this fall, I’ll be providing updates on whitetail buck movement for the entire country. These reports are based on intel from whitetailers in each region and my own observations as a traveling deer hunter. For more info like this, subscribe to the Rut Fresh Radio Podcast and Whitetail Weekly Newsletter. Rut Fresh Reports are powered by onX. Right now is many dedicated deer hunters’ favorite time of year to tag a mature whitetail—even...
Whitetail hunters have long obsessed over November as the pinnacle of deer hunting. We fantasize about it, countdown the days impatiently to its arrival, and pin our hopes and dreams upon it. But times might be changing. With the popularization of the patterning and hunting of specific bucks and the improvements in scouting tools like cell cameras and predictive deer behavior apps, the madness of the rut is becoming somewhat less desirable. In...
The arc is always the same. Most bowhunters engage in a ton of summer target practice, but once the deer season opens, the frequency of those sessions plummets. Then, they take their bows out into the field where they get rained on, knocked around, and generally abused. Occasionally, they sit in hot trucks for days on end. Sometimes, this abuse will bump a sight or rest slightly off-kilter. Or, it might allow strings and cables to stretch just...
Let’s be honest, even if you say you’re happy hunting whitetails on your back 40, deep down you’ve always wanted to try chasing mule deer out West. Why not make this the year you finally do it? The good news is archery deer tags are still easy to come by and there are fewer barriers to entry than you’d think. E-Scouting for Mule Deer The first step is to pick a state with favorable draw odds. This allows you to return either every year or every...
I talk to a lot of aspiring Western hunters every year. These folks, usually younger guys looking for adventure beyond the average whitetail foray, often focus on one thing—the kill. They say things like, “I’d be happy with a respectable Colorado bull,” or “I’m just looking for a 140-class type mule deer.” Most of them don’t have a clue what they’re in for because Western hunting isn’t whitetail hunting. I realize that’s the most obvious thing...
When it comes to leveling up your game as a turkey or elk caller, the animals do a pretty good job of educating us. Both species make a lot of noise, and mimicking their vocalizations is a straightforward path to becoming a better caller. When it comes to whitetails, it’s not so simple. I’d bet that most deer hunters never hear a real buck grunt in any given season. Our exposure to grunts often comes from hunting content where we watch other...
The Situation: There’s a chunk of public whitetail ground not far from your house. It consists of 400 acres of habitat you’ve never set foot on, and the season is approaching. Step One: Birds-Eye View The first step is to take dive into satellite imagery of the parcel via a scouting app like onX. You want to see the property as a whole, not only for what it contains but for what is on the land around it as well. Everything that could influence...
Amidst many a marital squabble, my wife has reminded me that “perception is reality.” I still don’t know what the hell that means in the context of my marriage, but when it comes to deer hunting, I’ve got it pegged. It means that the October lull is in fact real, despite research showing that buck movement steadily increases throughout the month. This has led many to claim that the mid-October dip in buck sightings is a myth. But they’re wrong...
In deer hunting (and life), it’s the false things we think are true that hold us back the most. While I could list a pile of these beliefs as they relate to deer hunting, a glaring example is the myth that there’s no reason to be on the stand during the midday hours before Halloween. We all know that there is absolutely no reason to hunt the lunch shift during the early- to mid-season, right? I used to believe that wholeheartedly—until I started...
When it comes to the heart of the whitetail season, there is one thing that must always be true. If the timing and conditions are right, you need to be in the woods. Whether it’s rain, wind, snow, or bitter temperatures, if you want to consistently fill those whitetail tags you’ve got to be able to persist through the elements. But developing the right system to get you through those conditions is not always an easy task. To help make your...
Archery seasons are well underway, and rifle hunting opportunities are right around the corner in most of the country. Unfortunately, that means hunters in more than 30 states have to contend with deer, elk, and moose that might be infected with chronic wasting disease (CWD). CWD is an always-fatal prion disease that infects members of the cervid family—other diseases like mad cow, scrapie in sheep, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s in humans are thought...
His name was Ernie. The sun has just gone down on the last day of the Vermont deer season when the flannel-clad old man with a white beard backed his rusty Chevy into the parking lot with the antlers of the biggest 10-pointer I’d ever seen sticking up from the tailgate. I was 17 years old, sitting in my car outside the general store and big game check-in station, eating beef jerky and begrudging my rotten luck. I hadn’t gotten a buck and had only...
I’ll start this with a point of clarity: I have spent more money than I care to remember leasing ground to hunt. I’ve leased ground in my home state of Michigan as well as in about five other states. For the most part, I don’t regret it but, at the same time, I can’t say that I was really better off for having done so. Leasing is a fickle kind of thing, in my experience. These days, I’ve learned from those experiences and have adopted a simple...
Blood trailing a wounded deer is a situation that can break bad in a hurry. This is due to the generally high optimism before the trail starts, to the reality that often sets in when the spoor starts telling the real story. Unless you’re dealing with a double-lung or heart shot, or even a severed artery, there are no forgone conclusions. Well, that’s not true. If you shoot a deer in the liver or the guts, it’s going to die. When and where are the...
Growing up at family deer camp, I would always hear my dad and uncles talking about these dynamite hunting spots they would find in creek bottoms. And how difficult it was to hunt due to the swirling wind down there. The more time I spent in the woods, the more I started recognizing these locations that I refer to as bowls. Over the last ten years, I’ve heard of this fancy term—thermal hub—used to describe these same areas. What is a Thermal Hub...
Pressure may be the most difficult challenge a whitetail hunter faces each fall. Stand selection, access, adjacent landowners, shifty wind, it all adds up. Hunters blame "being skunked" on a variety of excuses: moon cycles, unseasonably warm temperatures, barometric pressure, and the various phases of the rut. But despite what your cousin's neighbor said, human presence is the leading culprit for a shift in the whitetail woods—outside...
You’d be hard-pressed to have a conversation with someone about deer hunting and not touch on scrapes. Scrapes are arguably the most powerful communication tool that bucks and does alike use. They get the most attention during October and early November, but some scrapes are used year-round, depending on their location. There’s nothing better than finding a well-used community scrape that deer have used for years. I would rather see a deer-made...
I knew exactly where I’d be hunting this fall. It was all but set in stone, and the prospects were exciting. I’d start the season off in Kansas in September with a muzzleloader in hand. I love to bow hunt but the thought of kicking off the year with a little yardage advantage sounded pretty good. Then I’d focus a bit on my home state of Michigan (assuming I’d located a buck that I wanted to target). Knowing this is not any sort of a given, the...
Like a September buck on a consistent feeding pattern, humans are creatures of habit. We tend to do things the way we’ve always done them and then act surprised when we get a result short of what we expected. These five habits will not only have tangible benefits in your everyday life, but may also help you find more success in the field. Thinking Outside of the Box In a world of dwindling private land hunting access, oftentimes, you need to...
As deer hunters, we tend to focus on the rut a lot. We think of it as our big chance, the time when those dream bucks emerge from the shadows and walk around in daylight. But if the rut is your time to shine—those precious few days of PTO that you look forward to each year—why wouldn’t you prepare as much as possible to put yourself in a position to make opportunities happen? The time and effort you put into October could be the difference in...
I remember my low point well. I was heading west on I-80, hot cup of coffee in hand, with seven days of chasing Iowa whitetails in my rearview mirror and another week of the rut ahead in Nebraska. If you’d asked me a decade prior how that sounded, I’d have told you it was an absolute dream come true. But here I was, living that whitetail hunter’s dream, and all I wanted to do was wake up and be home. I was miserable. In 2021 I discovered the...
I have neither been accused of nor confessed to be a stylish sort. In fact, I suppose, I swing in the other direction. If it’s trendy, popular, or vogue, I admit to being of a different mind. While that may sound like a statement of desire for originality, it’s more a function of practicality and a bit of frugality. I see nothing wrong with jeans that wear a few well-earned stains, shirts bought from the Wal-Mart clearance rack, and a truck that...
Most hunting advice focuses on what you should do to be successful. In the realm of public land whitetails, this is often drilled down to a mobile style that lends itself to keeping up with changing deer patterns. Or, it might involve advice on what types of terrain features are best for a specific time of the season. It’s all about finding the right style and strategy and then putting it to good use. What we don’t often talk about are all of the...
Good games are the source of a lot of fun and laughs at camp. Pick any games you'd like, but keep in mind this is about unplugging from the electronics and everyday life and connecting with the ones that really matter. So "batteries not included" is not only preferred, it's a downright priority. Here's a look at five games that have been mainstays in a couple of camps that I've been blessed to be a part of for many years now. Euchre If...
You have your target buck figured out after capturing photos of him all summer long, but his velvet sheds, and he vanishes. Does that sound familiar? I think we’ve all been there at one point or another. I utilize over 40 trail cameras on public land throughout the big woods of Pennsylvania and encounter this every year. Did the buck leave the area entirely? Where did he go? These are all questions we ask ourselves and can drive us crazy trying...
Bowhunters are taking record numbers of deer across the whitetail’s range, with crossbows accelerating the long-term increases compound bows triggered a half-century ago. That surge is most obvious in Midwestern and Northeastern states, where archery seasons are typically longer and warmer, given their early starts each fall. Those traits often appeal to older hunters who take up crossbows to stay afield longer. But despite more bowhunting...
I was confused when I first saw the roads carved into the bean fields, perturbed when I heard the extra-long flatbeds hauling down the road, and downright bummed when I witnessed the previously undisturbed agricultural lands being swarmed by packs of orange vested workers. As windmills were erected throughout my hunting neighborhood, I couldn’t help but feel like a squadron of alien spaceships had descended from space to occupy my once pastoral...
Velvet hunts are all the rage these days. With states like North Dakota, Nebraska, Kentucky, and a handful of western states offering early September openers, the options are plentiful. They’re fun, too. Velvet bucks are predictable in a way that hard-antlered deer usually aren’t. The food-to-bed-bed-to-food reality of these bucks makes them as attractive as the novelty of a fuzzy-antlered mount on the wall. There are some downsides to these...
We’ve all read the headlines claiming that opening day is your ticket to filling that buck tag. This can definitely be true, especially if you’re hunting a state with an early archery opener. Bucks are visible during daylight hours and are likely still exhibiting their day-in-day-out summer feeding patterns. But the harsh reality is that the overwhelming majority of us will go home on opening day with a tag still in our pocket. If there was one...
Like so many things in hunting (and life for that matter), the process of creating a killer food plot has been made far too complicated and much more expensive than it needs to be. The truth is that there is nothing complex about creating a terrific plot that will draw deer. You don’t need any expensive equipment. You don’t need any special skills. You need a degree in agronomy. All you need is three ingredients: soil, seeds, and water. When to...
It’s hard to say exactly what makes for a good hunting buddy, but as they say with defining pornography, you know it when you see it. A hunting buddy is, obviously, a practical asset. An extra set of hands, another pair of eyes, a strong back, an extra driver, another contributor to the gas fund. But a good hunting buddy is so much more. They’re a sounding board, a counselor, a cheerleader, and a compatriot in whatever miseries or joys your hunt...
Cell cams. Mapping apps like onX. A supercomputer in everyone’s pocket capable of dialing up unprecedented levels of information within nanoseconds. All of these technological advancements provide a clear advantage to hunters, so wouldn’t it stand to reason that success rates should be skyrocketing? For some reason, they generally aren’t. Or they’ve plateaued in the last decade. Take my home state of Minnesota for example, where harvested deer...
The hunting industry leans pretty heavily on get-rich-quick products. Bottles of doe pee, calls, decoys, and a host of other categories promise easy success. Unfortunately, they often don’t deliver. In fact, an awful lot of the gear a hunter could buy won’t do much to actually help fill tags. That’s the nature of an industry built around a weird mix of passion, sport, and casual participation. There are, however, some essentials that are worth...
I knew I’d done my job as a father right when my 3-year-old fearlessly stepped out the door into the inky black night, stomped to the designated tree, and attempted to piss the letter “E” into the snow. One of the more unsung challenges of parenting is the inherent lack of validation. There’s no report card for dads. No gold medals. No performance reviews at the end of the quarter. But here, at my son’s very first deer camp, I could see a tiny...
Here are a few tricks that help me make the most of my Tethrd system in the whitetail woods. By double tethering yourself in with Phantom Tree Saddle Kit and properly positioning your Predator Platform Kit, you'll be set to hang for a while and wait for the big buck to stroll on by.
Back in 2015, I left the gym with a fresh, sharp pain in my right shoulder. In typical guy fashion, I mostly ignored it, until I couldn’t. With fall archery seasons only weeks away, I had to get some clarity on the pain, because I was reminded of it every time I drew my bow. The diagnosis was a partial tear in my supraspinatus muscle, which meant it was time to take a break. This reduced my gym time, but also meant I couldn’t engage in summer...
I recently made the mistake of searching YouTube for long-distance bow shots. While some practice session of insanely far distances showed up, a long list of hunting videos with farther-than-average shots populated the results as well. Now, far is subjective. A 60-yard poke to one archer might be the equivalent of a 30-yard shot to another. Even with vastly different skillsets, attention to equipment, and discipline at the range, there is still a...
If you’re stuck in whitetail purgatory, take solace in the fact that you have a lot of company. Most hunters in any given season (or hell, any given decade) won’t kill a big buck. Many don’t really care, which is a great spot to be in. That means the hunt is about other things, whether it’s the social aspect, just communing with nature in a quiet place, putting meat in the freezer, or whatever. What if you’re not in that spot though, and a big...
Summer is the time to grind and prepare food plots for the season ahead. Most hunters and land managers know the power of sweat equity. Permanent deer stand sites can become stale if not set up efficiently or adjusted over time. Whitetails relax during the offseason but promptly shift back into their intense survival mode once hunters start hitting the woods for fall openers. From collecting and submitting soil samples to choosing the perfect...
The archery industry seems to be split. Garmin debuted its Xero rangefinding sight technology for vertical bows in 2018 to strong opinions on either side. A few other companies have since launched some form of sight that incorporates rangefinding capability, and the debate over whether they have any place in fair chase bowhunting rages on. What Is Fair Chase? The Pope and Young Club defines fair chase as “the ethical, sportsmanlike, and lawful...
Meticulously planning access routes is one of the most overlooked aspects of scouting, especially on pressured or public land. If your goal is to wrap your tag around the antlers of a good buck, taking your entry and exit routes seriously is critical. Hunters often identify where they'd like to end up on a property. But failing to plan your access route usually results in spooking the deer out of the area you want to hunt, making for long, slow...
Here’s the truth about these “Best Cartridge” articles: the only honest answer is, “It depends.” Are these five cartridges really the five best whitetail cartridges in existence? It depends. It depends on where you’re hunting, your experience with firearms, what rifles you already own, how much money you can spend, how sensitive you are to recoil, and how much weight you’re willing to carry. The best cartridge for you might not be on this list...
The mechanical- versus fixed-blade broadhead debate is one that every bowhunter has an opinion on and one that will never be settled. The truth is that each type of broadhead, no matter what you read online, has its time and place. Rather than trusting your buddy’s opinion or buying whatever is...
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Zach Ferenbaugh’s hunting style is about as distinct as the long locks that make him the most recognizable member of The Hunting Public. Although he’ll occasionally carry in a saddle setup, Ferenbaugh prefers packing minimal gear, and he primarily employs a combination of spotting and stalking,...
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Just aim for the vitals, right? After all, the anatomy of deer has stayed pretty consistent for millions of years. In fact, fossil records show that antler-shedding ancestors of our modern deer were on the scene some 15 to 30 million years ago. While they’ve gone through plenty of changes since...
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Nothing can spoil a hunting trip like a broken bow limb and busted arrows. Flying across the country to chase whitetails means handing off your most important gear and hoping for the best. Although airlines are improving, nearly 25 million pieces of baggage are mishandled each year. After dropping...
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I don’t golf. I honestly can’t think of a less appealing sport, except for maybe mountain climbing or bull riding. I do appreciate the mix of the mental acuity with the physicality of a perfect swing of the club, however. There’s a quote from English golf instructor, David Leadbetter, that...
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Everyone knows that a whitetail’s greatest line of defense is their nose. Everybody also knows that while deer hunting, you need to keep the wind in your face. Savvy hunters take it a step further and find ways to keep the wind in their favor, even when the deer think the wind is in theirs. By wind...
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Vampire deer sound like something out of a bad horror flick. But some small cervid species primarily found in Asia sport curved tusks, or fangs, measuring 2 to 3 inches on top of their petite frames. These vampire deer, such as the Chinese water deer and Siberian musk deer, don’t grow antlers—or...
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Out of all the seasons, I do the least amount of deer scouting during the summer. It’s not that scouting during the summer isn’t practical, but I end up prioritizing other things in life because I know that I want to get as much hunting in during the fall as possible. With that said, I’m still...
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If you challenge most hunters on conventional whitetail wisdom, the response will almost always be, “maybe, but not with my deer.” It’s the nature of the beast, but we tend to have strong biases built around the deer we hunt. We also, not surprisingly, are biased toward our abilities as...
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I wasn’t sure I even wanted to be there. There were manicured food plots. Carefully placed tree stands and ground blinds. Strategically set trail cameras. A jaw-droppingly beautiful Midwest landscape. And, of course, big giant bucks. Who wouldn’t want to be in the middle of that? Me, it turns out....
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With turkey season comfortably in the rearview, it's time to start hammering the checklist for the fall. I love dedicating these next few months to tackling gear tweaks, modifications, and adjustments. I review my notes from last fall to keep the necessary mods fresh in my mind. I record these...
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Burnout is real. And hunting small properties requires an extra dose of consciousness to make them productive—a few reckless outings will almost certainly decrease future deer encounters. When hunting small properties, it’s generally a good idea to utilize low-pressure tactics while minimizing your...
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They are unkillable. Totally nocturnal. Blessed with a sixth sense that allows them to just feel that a predator is nearby. Some might say mature bucks are like a different species of deer. Which is true in some ways, and in others, total bull. The smartest buck on the landscape couldn’t out-reason...
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It would not be hyperbole to say that we’re quite possibly living in the “golden age” of whitetail deer hunting. Deer populations might be higher now than ever before and, at least since records have been kept, bigger, older bucks have never been more numerous. Hunters smash world and state records...
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At one point, I owned three different properties. All ranged in size from 28 to 30 acres, and all were mediocre pieces as far as deer quality and quantity was concerned. I managed to pick up all three in the span of about five years in a soft recreational real estate market. At the time, I had big...
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A few years ago, after giving a whitetail seminar at the Minnesota Deer Classic, I got into a conversation with one of the attendees. He mentioned that he hunted “up North” and that he just didn’t see very many deer. He then said something to the effect of, “I wish I could get one of those food...
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If you're a public land whitetail fanatic, you don't need lush food plots or ag fields to find early-season success. In fact, we often prefer other food sources. Nothing against these two staple spots, but deer are still consuming native vegetation as their primary diet, even on properties where...
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Each year, K.C. Smith travels from his Texas town to states throughout the country in pursuit of public land whitetails. And each year, he punches a few tags. These are his top tips for traveling whitetail hunters. Set Realistic Expectations While every whitetail hunter has dreams of tagging a...
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Deer spend most daylight hours lying in their bed, so it’s no wonder why so many hunters talk about whitetail bedding, specifically buck bedding. It’s a deer’s home, essentially—the place they’re most secure and protected. Because of this, they’re often located in areas that humans aren’t likely to...
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The future of any whitetail herd is in the success and survival of each year's fawn crop. Deer are exceptionally adaptive but certainly require adequate cover for safety. Trying to grow "giant bucks" is futile if you fail to maintain a positive fawn recruitment rate. What is fawn recruitment rate? It's a measurement of the number of fawns per adult doe that survive to at least six months of age. Therefore, a rate of 1.0 is one fawn...
Everyone knows to not disturb a bird’s nest. In fact, many folks enforce the myth that birds abandon every egg or fledgling touched by humans. Why, then, must wildlife agencies remind the masses each May and June to keep their mitts off “abandoned” fawns curled beneath shrubs, backyard decks, and even parked cars? And why do politicians scold wildlife agencies while “paroling” bottle-fed “rescue fawns” the agency intends to euthanize, as per...
In the grand scheme of things, bedding areas are small. Usually, you're working with one or two core locations, and often not more than a handful of acres in size and sometimes it's as small as your living room. So it's important to maximize the overall use and effectiveness of these areas. The more diversity you can provide within them, the more attractive they are. When strategizing how to make bedding areas better, it's about balancing the...
Safety, cover, and high-quality forage are key for whitetail management. Provide those features and you will immediately improve the huntability of your food plots and how frequently deer utilize the space. However, you must also consider crop height, cover screens, protein levels, and soil...
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If you’re into math, read on. We’ll be doing a whole lot of it. Me? I’m not a math guy. I rely on numbers only when absolutely necessary. But this discussion is one of those instances. In Michigan, we have pretty fair turkey hunting. But a late-April opener and a one-bird limit leaves too much...
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Snow softly popped beneath my boot like wet popcorn as I eased my heel, then toe, down to the ground. I leaned forward, squinted eyes searching ahead, and thumbed the safety on my rifle. It was there, I was ready. I had to be ready. “He could be right up hee-ya,” Hal whispered back to me in his...
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Tree farms get a bad rap by hunters and are too often viewed as “wildlife wastelands.” But proper planning and management with timber stand improvement (TSI) can make pines a wildlife paradise. They offer safety, food, and hunting opportunities. From the sweltering velvet season to the shortened...
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Just as the bulk of bowhunters fall on opposite extremes in the fixed versus mechanical broadhead debate, most also hold strong opinions on arrow rests. Though drop-away style products reign supreme and continue to push the boundaries of new innovation, Whisker Biscuits still seem to have a place...
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Turkey hunting is a lot of fun, but at the end of the day, I’m obsessed with whitetail hunting. Every year when I’m chasing gobblers around the big woods of Pennsylvania, I scout new areas for whitetails. The two can go hand in hand if you like the run-and-gun style of turkey hunting that I’m...
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Consistent deer hunting success is found in the details. Sure, there are people who wander haphazardly into the woods with no preparation at all and manage to get lucky. But if you want to consistently put meat in the freezer and antlers on the wall, this pursuit requires an obsession with getting...
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Some of the most serious biologists agree that if they had to choose a single tool for managing and manipulating habitat, it would be a chainsaw. Thankfully we live in a world with more options. The possibilities are virtually endless when you arm a habitat manager with a chainsaw, the right...
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“Let’s get some pho!” “What the hell is pho?” I asked. Pho, which I later discovered is a Vietnamese noodle dish, had never been recommended to me before as a pre-hunt menu item. But, as I’d soon learn, spicy noodles in broth would be just one of many new experiences on my first urban deer...
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A consistently favorite topic among whitetailers is food plots. Before you get your hopes up about some groundbreaking, revolutionary seed mix or soil amendment strategy, I need to provide a disclaimer: I’m far from a food plot expert. But with some trial and error, plenty of reading, and quality...
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Most whitetail hunters spend more time looking for deer than looking at deer. The most popular North American big game animal is infamously skittish around humans, and it’s safe to say that, with the exception of this city in Japan, cervids around the world avoid highly populated areas like their...
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Pinch points, bottlenecks, and funnels are all the rage for rut hunters. Simply locate a terrain feature that forces deer movement, put in plenty of stand time in November, and get ready for your grip-and-grin photos. Of course, if it were that easy, bowhunters in most states would have a much higher success rate. They don’t because it isn’t easy. But that doesn’t mean training yourself to scout effectively for the right terrain features isn’t a...
Trail cameras are a critical tool for hunting big woods bucks. I use them most of the year, minus springtime and early summer. They'll give you the confidence and confirmation in your scouting to know whether you are in the right place or need to pivot. I like to adjust my cameras based on the time of year to get the most valuable information. Summer In farm country, placing your cameras on agricultural fields, food plots, and water sources can...
Days are long, nights are short, and the stakes are high. As you head out of town for a highly anticipated adventure hunt, creating efficiencies in your camp setup equates to less time at camp, more time in the field, and more sleep at night. As they say in the business world, time is money. If you’re looking for ways to make your camping setup more efficient this fall, here are a few starting points. Camp in a Central Location When choosing...
Many of us don’t have the luxury of large nearby fields with standing grain to draw shedding bucks. We’ll never be able to go on a simple stroll through perfect shed hunting land and scoop antlers up left and right. It’s no secret that quality destination food sources are an ace in the hole for piling up sheds on hunting property. As long as there’s minimal pressure, bucks bed close to the food sources and keep movement to a minimum during this...
I slid across the lake’s surface like a skater on ice, the bow of my canoe slicing smoothly through the waves while diamonds sparkled on the water and shimmered off the antlers at my feet. This was something new. I’d seen flip-flops, fish, and beers in this context, but never antlers. I could get used to it. My friend Parker told me this was the very best part of hunting whitetails by boat. It isn’t seeing a buck emerge from the timber, taking a...
When it comes to hunting public lands, finding consistency from tract to tract is rare. Each area presents its own challenges and often has very few similarities to the next one. Over the years, one trend I continue to see is that mature bucks use public lands as a portion of their home range, rather than living on it exclusively. Of course there are exceptions, including large BLM tracts, 10,000-acre national forests, and the like. Because bucks...
You found a shed! Pick it up. Spin it in your hand. Marvel at the pearly bases, the cedar-stained beams, the slick curving tines. It’s a work of art, isn’t it? OK, that’s enough. You’ve found a shed, but guess what that means? There’s a match out there, and now it’s your job to find it. Here’s how. How Antler Drops Happen Antler drop occurs as a result of falling testosterone levels, which are tied to changing length of daylight. As those...
Hailing from a non-hunting family, Jeff Sturgis is a self-taught whitetail habitat expert. With a passion for bowhunting bucks and the very little food plot guidance available in the 90s, he was forced to just figure it out. Three decades and hundreds of designed parcels later, Sturgis said “there are no secrets” for solving the whitetail habitat puzzle. Rather, improving whitetail property is about striking the perfect balance for each specific...
To be consistently successful on pressured public land, hunters must go where the deer are and other hunters aren’t. This flexible style of mobile hunting might mean moving to a new spot every sit. But if you’re carrying in a climber or hang-on each time, it can become a real grind—especially when logging some serious miles to your next spot. You’ll get to your ambush site sweaty, sore, and exhausted before the hunt even begins. Trimming a few...
Let’s forget the arguments for and against buying a new bow. Instead, let’s pretend as if you’ve decided that this year is the year you’re going to trade in the old rig for something new. Since bow manufacturers have been engaged in a who-can-release-it-first war for about a decade ago, the newest models have been out for months already. By March, a whole slate of fresh rigs have hit the pro shops, and you’ve likely consumed some marketing around...
The best time to shed hunt is any day or weekend or week that you can get off work or away from other obligations to race away to the woods. But the next best time is when conditions are perfect. As I’ve written before, consistent shed hunting success is strongly linked to efficiency, i.e. making the most of your precious hours in the field and hard-earned miles. A rarely discussed but useful ways to do this, if you have a flexible schedule, is...
The two factors that dictate shed hunting success are location and timing. In regard to location, the more limited the access, the better. Add in some good wintering cover and quality food sources, and timing really doesn’t matter. Just show up when you want and start scooping up sheds. When you’re competing with the masses, the opposite is true—timing is (almost) everything. Sure, you won’t find any sheds in a really shitty location, but you...
The number of hours I’ll spend searching for shed antlers this offseason is equal to the number of hours I’ll spend watching Dancing with the Stars. I’m not saying I won’t take a quick glance at the show as I rip through the channels in search of something less mind-numbing, and I’m not saying I won’t stop and pick up a shed if I happen to see one laying on the ground as I’m out chasing spring gobblers. But this is the extent of my focus, effort...
“Town deer” are a subgroup of America’s favorite ungulate that are subject to both affection and disgust. Some folks feel like an evening stroll reveals a private national park with wide-eyed does and heavy-racked bucks grazing on the hepatica only feet away. But for others, these animals are nothing more than overgrown rabbits that eat landscaping and defecate on sidewalks. Deer, particularly whitetails, have created a stronghold in the suburban...
In a classic bait-and-switch move, I’m going to tell you something anticlimactic: You should start winter scouting public land just like you would any deer ground. Walk it, make notes, check out the past season’s sign, and try to read the terrain so that you’ll be better prepared next fall. This is all simple stuff and worthwhile for the public land hunter. But there’s more to the story if you want to use your February findings to stay on top of...
Whitetail deer are the most hunted big game animal in the U.S. Hands down, more people hunt deer than anything else, with more than eight out of 10 licensed hunters nationwide attempting to fill whitetail tags each fall. However, chronic wasting disease (CWD) is spreading like wildfire through deer herds, also threatening elk and moose populations across the nation, and the hunters who depend on them. CWD is a fatal neurological disease which...
I spend as much time (if not more) in the woods during the spring as I do during hunting season. Spring scouting can help you gather valuable intel for the next hunting season. My spring scouting regimen includes looking for whitetail sheds to figure out what bucks made it through the previous hunting season and harsh winter. Big woods areas are arguably the most challenging places to find sheds due to the miles of timber with not many areas that...
With an archery season open until the end of January, my hunting partner and I met up to see what we could do about filling a few more tags in southwestern Wisconsin. While the first sit was a bust, the second put two unlucky does in front of me and a great buck in front of my buddy. That buck, with one antler towering over his head and the other recently dropped into the snow, unfortunately never wandered into range. He did, however, help us...
I’d like to propose that the trendiest whitetail land management project of the last decade is not hidey hole food plots or back-in-the-woods water holes or screening cover, but hinge cutting. Yes, hinge cutting. This popular, quick-and-dirty timber management method has caught fire across the whitetail world and has rapidly become the DIY go-to prescription for getting cover and food on the ground in the woods fast. In many ways, this is for...
E-scouting, the act of using apps to scour satellite imagery in search of hunting hotspots, is a skill that needs honing. You can learn the basics of e-scouting by reading up on it, or by watching tutorial videos, but that’s purely academic. To truly level up your digital scouting game, you’ve got to take it from the comfort of your living room into the woods. This is where you will ground-truth your findings, and either confirm your suspicions...
Food plots and ag fields are king when it comes to attracting deer in winter. The high carbs in corn and the protein in soybeans offer nutritional value that most food sources just can’t compete with. But not everyone has an uncle with 80 acres of winter wheat or a lease with an hour-glass shaped turnip plot. That’s OK, though: There’s plenty of white gold to be had on natural food sources that are available on every property across whitetail...
You and I both know that cabin fever is real and winter is long. We can all feel it deep in our bones, but I know the perfect antidote. The cure for cabin fever, at least for whitetail nuts like us, is to plan a shed hunting adventure. Yes, an out-of-state trip to stretch the legs, kick off the dust, and get the whitetail gears turning once again. As much as I love hunting deer, I’ve found that some of my very best whitetail-related memories stem...
One specific buck occupied my mind going into the 2021 hunting season. I had many trail camera pictures of him and collected both of his sheds from the previous season. When the frigid temperatures and deep snow kept me out of the woods for a while last winter, I spent time on my computer studying maps, logging trail camera data, and whatever else I could do to put together a game plan for this deer. The previous year was the first time I hunted...
I readily admit the bulk of my deer season work is done during the season. I’m a big believer in the “most recent information” approach and take it to extremes. This is why I don’t spend a ton of time on postseason scouting efforts. But naturally, there's still some work to be done between now and next season. Here are three off-season chores every hunter should make a priority right now. Cameras and Gear I can't tolerate wasted time. Unless you...
Many articles have been written on how to scout whitetails in the spring and winter, and for good reason. Post-season scouting is one of the best tactics we have as whitetail hunters to learn more about the deer we're hunting. For the most part the strategy remains consistent: locate somewhat fresh sign from the recently closed hunting season. But for those of us seeking to fill tags on ground open to all, the strategy can be adapted accordingly...
If we want to keep enjoying incredible hunting seasons like the one we just had, it’s on us to keep doing the work that allows deer populations and their local landscapes to flourish. Our predecessors have done this work for decades and it’s gotten us to where we are now—what many consider the golden age of whitetail hunting. Now it’s our turn. More work? Yes, I know that’s not what you want to hear after several long months of hard hunting. But...
Over the years, I’ve collected a ton of stuff for hunting and hunting-related activities. The problem was that I could never find anything that I was looking for when I needed it. So a couple of years ago, I decided that I would figure out a way to store all of my gear in a neat, organized, and easy-to-find manner. The fact is that when you’re organized, you’re more efficient and effective in everything you do. To improve your hunting gear...
My hunting nemesis over the last decade has been the big woods, primarily the miles upon miles of unbroken timber in northern Wisconsin. It’s a region with a low deer density due to a myriad factors. Predators ranging from wolves to bears to coyotes roam the landscape, and one bad winter can set the whole whitetail herd back to a shell of its pre-winter numbers. There aren’t any definitive destination food sources to work with, and as far as I...
Most whitetail hunters have at some point inhaled the strong stench wafting from a rutting buck’s tarsal glands. While they may recognize it as the calling card of a mature deer, that’s about the extent of most folks' olfactory understanding. However, for the sake of pursuing an animal that communicates primarily via odor, it’s important to study the full scope of their scent communication. “They’re not a very vocal species, so they’re doing a...
When I set out to buy my twin daughters their first real bow in December, I was surprised at the quality and quantity of youth options. It also made me realize that someone could easily be overwhelmed with the task of outfitting their future deer slayer with a decent rig. Countless variables go into a purchase like a first bow, but certain aspects of the process bridge those individualities. This has to start somewhere, and for most of us, the...
Late winter and early spring is, without question, my favorite time to be in the woods. A thin layer of snow, diverse habitat, and a season's worth of sign offer the makings for a whitetail hunter's best education. All the previous season’s sign stands out, and with the season having recently closed, you don't have to worry about pressuring the deer. These conditions make learning how the deer navigate and utilize the property more...
Overnight winds had swept the oaks below, blowing fresh snow into drifts higher than a whitetail’s brisket. I knew the snow’s depth because a doe crossing the woods below me was plowing a furrow in the fluffy blanket as she approached. The doe paused occasionally in her midmorning stroll to browse buds and stems, and finally walked broadside at 100 yards into a shooting lane. I put the riflescope’s crosshairs on her shoulder blade and fired my...
It was the last day of muzzleloader season in Michigan and it was time. A cold front pushed through, the rain faded, and temperatures were nearly 30 degrees lower than they were just 24 hours prior. Best of all, my target buck was caught on trail cam during daylight the night before. Conditions were ideal and I headed out with the highest of hopes this past Sunday night. At no other part of the season is getting the “ideal conditions” more...
Necropsy is a fancy term for digging into a corpse in order to, in most cases, figure out the cause of death. For deer hunters who are elbow-deep in a dead buck, it might seem like the cause of death is pretty easy to pin down. You shot it with an arrow or a bullet, and that’s that. It’s not always quite so simple, however. You might have shot it with an arrow and then recovered it 400 yards away after a six-hour search. Upon inspection, you see...
Having a good ground game is as important to a whitetail hunter as being able to kill deer from a tree. Versatility is your friend, and there are times of the year—like the late season—where one style can offer up an advantage over the other. If you’re looking to arrow a buzzer-beater buck, your best bet might be to go au naturel on the ground. This is especially true if there’s snow in on the ground to blend in with. Couple that with the fact...
Here's an interesting, fun fact that really isn’t relevant to deer hunting at all: Researchers have found cattail starch on Paleolithic grinding stones dating back as far as 30,000 years. This is good to know if the zombie apocalypse ever comes and you need some starch in your diet, provided you’ve got a mortar and pestle. While humans have a long history of utilizing these reedy, water-loving plants as a source of carbs, deer love them for a...
Most hunters live for the rut and invest the bulk of their vacation days in this unpredictable yet exciting time of year in the whitetail woods. But Neil Dougherty isn’t most hunters. A wildlife habitat consultant with decades of land management and whitetail success under his belt, Dougherty would trade all of November to hunt just a few days in the late season. While hunting the rut is largely a game of luck, he said, the late season is about...