Month: October 2020

Show Notes:

Getting into a tree may be the single biggest thing you can do to improve your chances of success hunting whitetails, but how high do you need to go? On this episode I talk about the factors of how altitude effects deer hunting and what the optimal height is. 

Take Aways

• A deer’s world is on the ground: their food, cover, bedding, friends, lovers, predators and just about everything else exists between 0-5 feet off the ground.
• The trees are home to birds, squirrels, and leaves. Things that are of little interest to whitetails. 
• Deer can and do look up. But they rarely have a reason to unless they hear something or catch a glimpse of movement.
• Altitude even helps the scent equation because it gets our smell off the ground so it is less pronounced. 
• Terrain does effect how high you should climb but only to a minimal degree.
• The higher you go the more negative effects begin to stack up, such as:
  • Poorer shot angles with harder to hit vital areas.
  • Further from the deer, which impacts archery most.
  • More branches and obstacles can get in between you and your target.
  • The higher you climb, the more time and energy is spent climbing.
  • Piecing together high climbing systems increases the risk of an accident. 

   

Show Notes:

There is no doubt that ATVs can make deer hunting more convenient, but do they have a negative effect on deer? On this episode I talk about the impact of all-terrain-vehicle use on deer hunting and when the best time to use off road vehicles is. 

Pros:

• ATVs are a great way to get deep into the woods quickly.
• ATV’s can be enable hunters with physical disabilities/limitations to overcome barriers to whitetail hunting.
• ATVs are an amazing asset to help recover game from the woods.
• ATVs can help you get lots of gear deep into the woods with ease.
• ATVs can be used in certain scenarios with no impact on deer.

Cons:

• ATVs make a lot of noise.
• ATVs make vehicle noises in places that deer are not used to them.
• ATVs can spook deer, particularly mature bucks.
• ATV use can contribute to lazy hunting habits and poor woodsmanship over time. 
• ATVs provide a false sense of security because the deer can flee long before you are close enough to ever see them.

The truth is, there is a best day of the year for whitetail deer hunting. But that day is not the same every year. On this episode I give you the tools to help you discern the best day of the year to hunt whitetails in your area.

The rut happens at the same exact time every year, no matter what. The latest science available demonstrates that the rut is mostly likely caused by decreasing daylight. Which means it will occur at the same time of the year, every year, no matter what else happens. Weather will never make the days longer or shorter so it will not change when the rut occurs.

Bucks are going to breed does every day and night during the peak of the rut. But there are days where they will move more during the daylight. Contrary to popular belief, the moon does not impact when the rut takes place. It has no bearing at all on the breeding season.

The moon does not determine the rut, the days getting shorter does. Hunting by the moon phase has been a popular philosophy for hundreds of years. It has been somewhat helpful because you can use the lunar calendar to get you into the right ballpark of when the rut will take place. So, long ago it was beneficial because it helped track seasons before better calendars were available. But the moon never did cause the rut. And trying to track moon cycles today is mostly a waste of time.

The moon can play a small part because brighter evenings can lead to more nighttime activity which turns into a slower morning but with more movement at mid-day. Again, this does not cause the rut, but it can help us feel up the best time of day for hunting when the sky is clear and the moon can provide extra light at night, but the weather plays a much larger part in helping us determine when deer will be more active during daylight hours. 

The effect of weather and temperature is relative. There is no magic temperature or conditions. It is all about how the weather is compared to how it has been. When colder days follow warming ones, deer tend to move more during daylight hours, they are refreshed and do not overheat so they feel less hindered to move more. And if it’s very cold the movement can help them stay warm.

Likewise, deer tend to move more right before or right after a big storm. They move to feed and to mate. Often, they will be easier to hunt during these times because they have been pent up weathering the storm and may be less cautious as they seek out food and rutting company. 

Here is Pennsylvania’s data on when does breed during the peak rut. I misspoke on the show, it is based on 6,000 does studied.

Listen to the episode to find out the best day of the  year for you to hunt deer. For even more, here is a video I also did on the subject:

Show Notes:

Many people discount the early season when it comes to hunting whitetail deer, but that can be a big mistake. On this episode I talk about the 5 big strategies that helped me land my early season buck and how you can find great success long before the rut draws close.

The Story

So I took the largest buck I’ve harvested so far. Thanks be to God! This deer was part of a two year long journey on the small property I am blessed to be able to hunt.

I spent dozens of days cutting trails, installing habitat improvements, planting 1/10th of an acre of clover with no more equipment than a weed wacker, and setting up stands and trail cameras to hunt and monitor the most likely locations for deer movement.

I spent even more time learning, studying, planning, plotting, and just thinking about the above journey. Before this year I had never seen or had a trail camera photo of a buck on this property during the hunting season. That is 5 straight years with not a single buck sighting or photo during the season!

This year I had identified and named somewhere around 6 bucks that were legal, some much larger than this one, and they are around fairly regularly. I’ve had over 500% more trail camera images of deer this year vs last year, from the same camera, in the same spot, over the same dates (and counting!)

It has been a great adventure in learning about deer, deer habitat, how to create predictable deer movement patterns, how to attract and hold more deer with minimal dollar investment, and of course how to hunt deer more effectively.

More important than all of that, it has been fun! And today I was able to reap some of the fruit of all that work.

The hunt today was simple. I got to the blind around 3:45pm. Watched some fawns graze and run away, and then sat uneventfully for two more hours. At 5:45 I saw a head with antlers appear straight ahead of me, slowly exiting the woods into the clover patch 30 yards away. Within two seconds I know it was a keeper, I drew my bow and fired without hesitation, second thought, or even a second look at the antlers. The shot was true. And my adrenaline kicked in fast.

It was my 4th hunt of the season, and the first legal buck that came within range. Though I could have taken many does, (and probably should have.) This deer was actually coming from semi down wind of me, which is not supposed to happen. So I was not watching that part of field as intently as others. I took great precautions to control scent, and they seemed to have made a difference.

It was a great moment. I wish it had been in the morning when I prefer to hunt so I could have savored it longer without wrestling with the fleeting daylight. But the bucks have been moving here almost exclusively in the evening during this part of the season, so I had to adapt my style some. That is another thing I learned, and it payed off.

I am so thankful to everyone who has had a part in helping me along in my hunting adventures, big or small, such as my family, friends, and coworkers. I especially want to thank my in-laws who have given me great latitude to work on their property with the intention of improving the hunting conditions. Not even I thought my work would have helped this much.

And I am most thankful to God, who set this beautiful creation in order for us to see, experience, and enjoy. He has given me the ability, the health, the strength and the opportunity to do all these things.