After reading Justin's thread on bowhunting success in October lull I got to thinking while some of those encounters were lucky, but others were hunting skill. I'd like to learn more how to be a skillful early season strategist. Post up your best strategies for success early season like the first few weeks. For me having an inventory of the deer in August/September using trail cams is key. I like to know what's out there to shoot. Secondly and is actually probably the most important thing I do...I try to go to all the oak stands on my farm to scout acorns. I have several different areas. Some with white Oaks that drop early and are done by October, some with Swamp White Oaks that drop inconsistently, but when they do you better be over there, and then several areas of red and black oak stands. With the above scouting trips mentioned I do try to be selective about when I go into the deer's areas prior to the season. I like to go on windy days when it is either a light rain or is going to rain in the next 24 hours. If I don't do that I try to stick to field edges and if possible take a vehicle in with me as I think the deer are used to vehicles like trucks and tractors in the ag fields. I haven't had much success with starting mock scrapes or rubs early season, but I may overmark some scrapes and hunt them early. This will be with forehead gland and buck urine. However I never use doe pee anymore and absolutely no estrus I try to hunt very sparingly like perfect wind and weather. If I go a half a dozen times October 1st through Halloween that's a lot. What about you all...what's your secret to success in early season?
White oaks can be great, but if you hunt an area like I did last year with several large trees dropping spread out over the area, it can be difficult to pick the right tree. But my early season tactics are almost always based on food sources. The woods are greened up so deer can browse anywhere, but they will still seek out the most nutritious foods.
It's going to be a really rough year hunting oak groves in the Northeast.. The Catapillar's/gypsy moths have destroyed all the white oaks leaves and Any chance of acorns. It's the weirdest thing, driving down the road and looking straight through a forest like it's Late November. Not too sure what strategy to take. If I have no access to food plots, or farmland, just hardwoods. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I posted three in Justins thread. If you expand his time before October 5th to opening day, I would have two more. If you expanded it to October 31st, I'd have another two. Safe to say, I take early season hunting very seriously. Here is a copy paste of an article I wrote for this site about this very topic a couple years ago, if anyone is interested... I deleted the photos and captions to make it short enough to fit the post character maximum. [FONT=&]The month of October seems to be the forgotten month. Just stop by an archery shop, flip through the pages of your favorite whitetail magazine, or even browse the thread topics on any message boards and you will discover this fact. For the most part, bowhunters want to tell stories and talk about tactics specific to the rut crazed month of November. It seems that in the mind of many, October is not only the prelude to the rut, it is basically just a time to fill doe tags; with little to no emphasis placed on arrowing big bucks.[/FONT] [FONT=&]Well, I am here to tell you that to be successful at consistently attaching your buck tag to a nice set of whitetail antlers, maximizing your time afield is a must. Furthermore, the month of October offers some schematic advantages that November doesn’t. The following is my personal break down of those advantages as well as some tactics I have found to be very effective when trying to tag an “October” buck.[/FONT] [FONT=&]The Advantages[/FONT] [FONT=&]Here today and gone tomorrow; that sounds all too familiar when it comes to November buck sightings. However, that’s not so in October. The greatest advantage that bowhunting in October holds over November is that you know that summer bedding and feeding patterns are still the same. Bucks are typically using the same tracts of land you scouted them on in the summer. Apart from the obvious advantages, this sort of info will also give you more confidence. Confidence is a huge part of deer hunting. For example, it is a lot easier to get up extra early and sit a little longer when you know you have a target animal(s) regularly using the land you are hunting; rather than wondering if they are still around or a mile away chasing a hot doe.[/FONT] [FONT=&]These early October bucks may have does on their mind to some degree, however they are not totally blinded by the urge to breed….yet. And while they may be spending the vast majority of their time bedded, once they rise from their beds much of their time is spent feeding, socializing, rubbing and scraping. Some effort is also spent establishing a pecking order among other bucks in preparation for the impending rut; but the vast majority of that behavior is yet to come.[/FONT] [FONT=&]So what does all of this mean? It means that a buck’s predictability is at an all-time high…. as far as hunting season is concerned, during the month of October! And, since we already know what early season bucks are doing (bedding, feeding, watering, scraping and rubbing) we can formulate a game plan to execute and capitalize on some of those behaviors, more specifically, the feeding and scraping behaivor.[/FONT] [FONT=&]Utilizing those Advantages[/FONT] [FONT=&]There is no other food source that I know of that has the drawing power of acorns during the early season. Hungry bucks will spend a good deal of effort in October trying to pack on as much weight as possible in order to survive the upcoming rut as well as the harsh winter. Acorns are high in calories and fat as well as offer good protein content. It is the perfect food source at the perfect time of year.[/FONT] [FONT=&]As the deer spend their time during day light hours bedded, oaks drop their bounty to the forest floor; accumulating a large cache of acorns. One advantage to hunting in an oak flat or between a bedding area and a stand of oaks is that acorns are served on a first come basis. This is very much unlike the crop fields or browse areas whose abundance is on display at all times. Essentially, this creates “competition” for the available acorns within the herd and deer know that arriving to the oak trees early in the evenings offers them the easiest pickings. This creates a scenario that can greatly favor the savvy bowhunter. If you know where your target buck(s) are bedding and conduct your hunt properly to account for variables such as wind direction and entry and exit routes, you could be in for an October hunt to remember.[/FONT] [FONT=&]Once a buck has tended to his nutritional needs, scrapes become the second most important subject on his mind. Consequently, I have found scrape hunting to be the most productive October strategy. Sure it is cool to see a big buck come into an oak tree setup, but it is nothing compared to seeing him scent check a scrape from a distance; slowly approach, then hit the licking branch and clear the scrape. Those are images that will be burnt into your memory bank for years to come.[/FONT] [FONT=&]The Right Scrape[/FONT] [FONT=&]Not all scrapes are created equal. In fact, some scrapes will lower your odds of seeing a buck working them during daylight hours. For example, in most areas that receive a great deal of hunting pressure, it is probably best to abandon any thoughts of hunting field edge scrapes. Big bucks do not get old by making poor choices like showing up on field edges during daylight hours to make a scrape. Those types of scrapes are usually constructed, and refreshened, under the cover of darkness. Bucks that do come into such a setup in daylight either live in low pressure areas or led a very short life.[/FONT] [FONT=&]Experience has taught me that genuine whitetail scrapes are the best and most active scrapes to hunt in early October. Also, I do not add any foreign odors to scrapes at this time: this includes bottled deer scents or man-made synthetic scents. I do not believe these early season scrapes are used for breeding purposes. Instead, I have concluded that they are used as a social calling card or are “territorial” in nature.[/FONT] [FONT=&]These social scrapes, otherwise known as community scrapes, are an excellent place to setup, as many bucks will be visiting them. Often, you can find multiple bucks made up of different age classes at these social scrapes at the same time. This is much like what you might find at the water cooler of an office. If you have a scrape of this nature, without a doubt it is the place to be during the early season.[/FONT] [FONT=&]Another reason I avoid adding anything to these early-season scrapes is due to the fact that most bucks usually just work over the licking branch then move on. Occasionally, they will paw at the scrape but not very often. Also, I rarely notice bucks actually urinating in these scrapes in early October. However, I am not implying that mock scrapes will not work in the early season, but if I am going to spend my time hunting them then I prefer the real thing.[/FONT] [FONT=&]Changing Attitudes[/FONT] [FONT=&]Mid to late October is a different story when it comes to scrape hunting. As October starts coming to an end, the urge to breed begins to take its hold on bucks. This causes them to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Not only have I had success hunting over genuine scrapes doctored with doe urine at this time, but I’ve also achieved great results from hunting over mock scrapes that I made with estrus doe urine. The estrus doe urine is often more than a buck can resist and causes him to commit to your setup. After that, the rest is up to you to make good on the opportunity.[/FONT] [FONT=&]If you do your job and get close to a bucks bedding area without being smelled, heard or seen, then these estrus scrape tactics, coupled with one well-placed arrow, can lead to an October big buck photo shoot you will never forget. Best of luck![/FONT]
Great stuff as always Scott. I left out the first few and last few days of October simply because they seem to fall outside of that "lull" that everyone talks about. The first few days you can often still catch a buck on evening feeding patterns before the pressure really sets in, and by the last 10 days of the month or so they're really starting to get into that pre-rut phase and hitting scrapes hard. The last 10 days of October have always been great for me and I've either killed or had the opportunity to kill a buck during that time period virtually every year for the last decade or so. To me, it seems to be a much easier time to kill a buck than mid October. While I've never killed a buck during the really early part of the season I'd say the focus is on locating an animal you want to shoot and determining exactly where he's bedding and feeding.
My only strategy is to spend as much time in the stand as possible. The 2 properties I hunt are dominated by oak trees. The one property is 350 acres I would say 225 is oak. The other is 50 acres and 35 are oak. Farmers just hay the fields they don't plant anything. Ever year though eventually something passes by I can put in the freezer.
This is the ticket! I seek out one LONE white oak that's dropping, that way you don't have to worry if they will come to your tree or other trees in the immediate area. The thing with most white oaks is, they tend to drop every 2 years or so. At least the ones I've been hunting under for the past 13 years.
Thanks. I knew why you left out those dates. You were data collecting the "lull" not the whole "early" season. I was referring to your dates just to show the time frame of when I took the bucks, rather than just lumping all of them as "early" season bucks. The dates just better showed what part of the month they came from.
Early season is by far the easiest time to kill a deer. They're the most patternable until food sources change. You can watch where they enter fields in the evening at long range w binoculars. Figure where they're coming out, get a good wind, set up and kill em. Can't get no easier. Giant bucks are another story. The white oaks are great advice too.
I tend to be over cautious. I typically slip in to easy access stands. Keep pressure low as possible. Beans and acorns. As the month goes on I'll start easing into the hotter stands. On Halloween Im shifting gears.
If you have a big buck coming to a field in daylight under a certain wind condition... If you wait until the wind changes to setup on what he had been doing, chances are very high if he comes to the field at all that day with the different wind he will enter the field in a completely different spot so he can take advantage of that's days wind.
Cannot agree more!!! People throw the word Pattern out on deer all the time, but with big bucks EXTREMELY rarely is the word pattern something one should use. A pattern defined is an act or "thing" which repeats without interruption or change....a big buck is anything but that. After countless observations, scouting confirmations and pictures one can begin to form tendencies of a big buck's activity with various factors like wind direction, moon phase, barometric pressure, activity, food sources and even human interaction norms....tons of other factors like pre-vailing winds, thermals, time of the year, temp, age of the buck (as some scouting and documenting is done over years).
Afternoons in the early season, all day during the rut, mid day when full moon is visible during daylight. I'm quickly learning that barometric pressure is something else to take note of. I am going to make sure to be in the stand when the pressure either drops or climbs drastically. Those are my general tactics in terms of WHEN I hunt. My general tactics for WHERE I hunt is pretty specific on my small 9 acre piece of property. I have a few stands but my main stand is in the middle of a thick covered deer trail at the top of a ridge that leads to a mineral site and a watering hole to the left and another mineral site and mock scrape to the right. There are probably a dozen mini trails that finger off the main ridge trail to different staging areas on my property. Of the mini trails, one leads to to a small honey hole food plot, another to an automatic feeder, another to an open area where the deer play and roam, one leads to a nearby field (not my property), and another leads to thick bedding/brush. The others leads to other properties that I don't have access to.
Oh how I wish my property had oak trees. I know of a few lone oak trees on my property (no oak flat). The biggest oaks are on hedge rows roughly 10 yards wide splitting ag fields. After reading this thread I think it would be a good idea to try and get a set up on one of the oaks. They are no where near bedding (unless the deer are bedded in the hedge row). Thoughts?
Cold fronts cold front cold fronts. More specifically...I do not hunt anything but observation stands unless there is a significant weather event. I don't hunt mornings early season at all...unless there is a huge abnormal cold front. I have had much better luck hunting food, or just off of food in the evenings. I don't intrude very far into the woods early season.
This is true to an extent. If you have perfect conditions they still can be taken and no pressure but imo and in my area the no pressure thing is only a wish. The walking phase of the rut is the best time. They will change w weather though. This is why I like long range surveilance over cameras. Cameras used improperly lead to pressure before season even starts imo
I consider myself extremely blessed to hunt a beautiful piece of property just minutes from my house in gorgeous western Kentucky. Early season actually goes pretty well for me with season being in as early as September 5th and the property containing the only substantial water source within a 5 mile radius. If you aren't lucky enough to have a similar setup I agree 100% with boonerville by doing yourself a favor, by saving time, energy, and hunting pressure and wait for a cold snap, or treading shallow on afternoon hunts only.
