Some responses on a different topic I posted lead me to this question. I'm pretty new to whitetail hunting so I'm just looking for some good rules of thumb. What does certain weather conditions do to their movement, what times of day do they do certain things...etc
They have a tendency to make a fool out of me. Hap
Seen more big deer in the middle of the day. Mostly nocturnal during light of the moon. They'll move before and just after a heavy front.
They leave when they smell me, but mostly what Hap said.
Try peeing on a fresh scrape-drives them nuts!
Hunt edges. Deer like to travel edges, large timber and thickets. Places with a transition from one feature to another different feature. Seems to funnel them rather easily.
GLENN
They like to eat, sleep and breed.
Find you some good food sources and hunt them. find where they are bedding and stay out, hunt the out skirts of bedding areas and last but not least learn how to read sign... Scrapes, Rubs and such and hunt over a hot scrape or good rub line during prerut, during rut and post rut.
Most importantly use the wind to your advantage and always keep it in YOUR nose not theirs
They know how to play the wind
Learn movement patterns , they like routes of least resistance, such as creek and river crossings with low banks and shallow crossings. Fence line crossing are a favorite of mine, set up downwind of it 20-30 yards. Low gaps in mountainous areas are great, if they have a fence in them so much the better. One stand I have is where a gate once stood open on a fence line for years, the fence no longer stands but the deer still use it:) Fingers of cover that stick out in fields are great stands , especially where it is in a corn field .
Good luck
Jack
I know that I'm allergic to the combination of a longbow in my hand and a deer in front of me. I must be. Whenever that combo comes together my knees shake.
They have a tendency to make a fool out of me. Hap
hahahaha!!
YOU TOO?????
excellent response!!
God bless,
Farmer
Mature bucks often check their scrapes from 20-100 yards downwind and don't bother them much during peak(breeding) rut.
Deer like to travel the back inside corners of fields, points that jut out into fields, fence rows and ditches if they have to cross open territory.
Deer are like us when traveling, LAZY! That is why saddles are so good to hunt.
Deer DO look up in trees!
Whoever moves first, you or the deer loses.
They are very active just after a heavy rain or in a heavy fog.
They like to bed in the high areas of marshy land.
They often enter woodlots with the wind in their face.
And as said before...knowing all this...they still can make you look like an fool. :smileystooges:
-Charlie
What Charlie just said!!!
They have a tendency to make you cuss at them!!!
They always seem to make you second guess your timing and stand location, and then just when you think you're safe: SNORT!!! STOMP!!! think again!! :knothead:
Some god tips on here.
1 position yourself downwind or more often at a cross wind from where you think the deer will be coming from. Mature deer often travel crosswind.
2 the main food source in the fall is acorns esp. white oak in early fall and other oaks as they season progresses.
3 deer always pause before entering and exiting changes in cover.
4 deer tend to bed high and feed low. although there are exeptions.
5 bucks often walk fence lines for does in heat and often walk the crosswind in a downwind direction. If the wind blows from the north to south the buck will often be traveling SE or SW.
6 As has been stated before, deer take the path of least resistance. they can be manipulated over time in this manner.
7 Mature bucks often show up in mid-day during the rut.
In the south, japenese honey-suckle is a great food source during the winter months.
They have a tendency to become invisible when the season opens. I think they can read, too.
Hunt hard and hunt often because i promise you one thing, you cant kill anything if you are not in the woods. I hunt a 2,500 acre lease with 7 other guys and every year i kill more deer than any of them. 3 of my hunting buddies have been hunting for years and i would consider them very good hunters. Over the years i have killed a lot of deer right at daylight and late in the morning when they were already out of the woods. GO EARLY AND STAY LATE and it will increase your chances of seeing more game.
The more scent-lok i wear the more they smell me!
The better i get at hunting mature bucks and pass on "smaller" ones, the less matures i see.
Hmmmm ............. :banghead: ;)
Always expect them to come from a direction you don't expect them to! Atleast that's been my experience.
They get up and move after a rain.
Follow food sources and the trails leading to and from. Pay attention to seasonal things like acorns and such. They will eat food at it's nutritional peak, whenever possible. Keep hunting does, and then come November....
Most deer have a tendency to hang at the edge of thick cover eyeballing the direction they want to go. Often just back far enough in it that you wont see them except a flick of an ear or tail.
They also trust their nose over even their eyesight. They often freeze not sure what I am seeing me, but "normally" but not always run first and ask questions later if they discover me coming in downwind.
They also have a tendency to be GONE before your arrow gets there if you shoot while they are looking at you. LOL.
They also "tend" to be individuals and while the rules of thumb are great, watch out. Many will break every one of those rules. Expect them when and where you wouldn't think they will be or should be.
They are so much fun to hunt, I cannot imagine not doing so. No missed shots or lack of shots ever converts to a "failed" season for me.
Oh yeah, they have a tendency to "get in your blood" and you can't stop hunting them too.
God Bless and best of luck.
right on b.glass just when you think you got it figured out they come from any other direction.
TTT
Try hunting locations that most hunters would avoid due to difficulty getting there.
They will die in the deepest clay ravines they can find.
Hunt food, hunt saddles in ridges, hunt trail junctions, hunt inside corners of fields. They tend to pretend as if they are going to put their head down then fake you out and try and catch your movement. They like acorns, and persimmons where available. As far as weather goes cold is king the colder the better. Other than that I see deer no matter if it's cloudy, sunny, a little rain etc. My least productive times are when it's really windy and really rainy because they tend to bed them up however they have to get up to eat sometime. The most important thing though is to always hunt with the wind in your favor because they will smell you and may potentially blow a spot for the whole season if you stink it up. Even though I hunt with the wind in my favor I am still meticulous about washing myself and my clothes to remain as scent free as possible. I use scent free laundry soap and once my clothes dry I put them in a scent free trash bag. The I shower with scent free soap then put my clothes on and spray my boots down with scent killer spray which are kept outside before I enter the woods.
Hunting just before a storm or before a major cold front is about to move through is probably my favorite time to hunt because they know what's about to happen and it really gets them up and moving. Also if you are blessed with a shot and hit one. Unless you see it fall and take it's last breath make sure and give them plenty of time to expire before taking up the blood trail. Once a wounded deer is bumped it's very difficult to find them a second time. I like to wait at least 30 minutes and that is the minimum if I am positive of a lethal hit and if I know it's a marginal shot I may wait an hour or back out all together and come back later in the day just to make sure.
Deer spend their entire lives looking for something to run away from!
If you're on your stand or blind and your thinkin' "I havnt seen a thing, I'm moving..." Give it 10 or 15 minutes more. I've made that mistake a bunch.....
Eric
Haven't killed a deer with my bow yet but I know from my gun hunting days that if you hunt on the ground practice shooting as far back behind you as you can.at least half the deer I've ever seen that's where they've been. didn't matter what kind deer sign was in front of me :)
Scent free stuff; clothes, soap, etc. works great until you put your clothes on. . . then you smell like a human wearing scent free stuff.
Im only familiar with what their tails look like :)
But others offer great advise
Especially the "front" movement
Deer are the best barometer
they tend to not come around when they know you are frequenting an area! :saywhat:
If the last 30 minutes of daylight lasted 3 hrs I`d kill a lot more stuff....RC
RC, if we gave you an extra 3 hrs of twilight, the herd would be decimated.
(that means to Kill, destroy or remove a large portion of)
definitely hunt areas where several types of habitat/terrain features all intersect, you're almost guaranteed to encounter some deer that way. I have had my best luck so far when several types of habitat/vegetation all intersect near a water source.
They have a tendency to avoid me :biglaugh:
honestly is not spoken of much but if you get the book from bob Kirschner called.. The art and appreciation of trophy bowhunting, it will flat out set your learning curve from asking what you are now to answering all your questions and then some. i promise you. its a great book for general deer hunting knowlege from dropping fawns through the rut till the late season. scouting, food sources, game care, scents, it has it all.
like you i was always trying to learn and i have read allot of books and it takes the cake.
The ones I hunt have a tendency to be real lucky.
I have not hunted whitetails for years, but brothers I feel your pain. They can make you nuts. How does it go, "a plesant sort of misery"
Cannot wait to get back