Hey everyone my names jay and Iam new to this forum. Hope everyone is having a good hunting season! I was looking to get some advice on morning whitetail hunts. This is my second year hunting on my 25acre lot. Last year I had a shot at a 8point buck but I missed at 30yards. Last year 95% of my morning hunts id leave about 1-1.5 before light. I don’t have to much to walk it’s about 500yards from my house to my stand. Every morning walking out I would spook deer like crazy and my hunt would be a bust. So this year I decided to only hunt afternoons. Problem is the next 10days looks super warm so I don’t think evenings will do any good. That 8point I got a shot last year was 8am on Nov 3 when I happened to be in that 5% time of not spooking anything. So my question is should I go in the mornings and risk bumping deer and hope for that 5% time when I don’t? The next 10days is when all the movements happened last year. I only have one way into my stand and iv tried 2 other ways and I was spooking deer there also. Thank In advance
Only two answers and an option really. Do what you're doing or change what you're doing. Option is hunt somewhere else which is likely not an option. If you can't change your route, change your routine. Go in earlier or later, start on one side of field and change crossing point to where you want to go and bump them differently. Walk way slower and quieter, get in stand later but a bit more stealthy. Wait until just after daylight so you can see what you're potentially bumping and cut into the woods to cut off exiting the field.
This time of year, don't worry about it. Try what you can but. Deer are gonna start moving now. I hate bumping Deer but the next 2 weeks, just be in a stand if you can. There's ZERO reason to be in a stand that long before shooting light! Welcome to the site Jay.
Now this is a matter of opinion Dave. I'm a huge fan of being on stand an hour before first light. I insist on 45 minutes at a minimum. Oh, and welcome aboard Jay This is a great place with a lot of great folks. Stick around, get involved and you will love it here.
Hi Jay... welcome. I use to own 20 acres of woods behind our house. I'd go in after sunrise and make a lot of noise rustling leaves on the ground. I've done this many times and had bucks running up to me - seeking, and hoping what they're hearing is a doe. But be ready when you hear one coming... he'll be on high alert. Hope you arrow a nice one.
I enjoyed doing that. One thing though...I was always walking into the wind when I did this. The bucks would usually run in cross-wind, and then try to get behind me to get 'the scent'.
I guess I should add that it sounds like a good tactic to use during the rut. Early season? Maybe not.
Give this a try Jay... ain't nothing like arrowing a deer from the ground, while you're standing still in the wide-open woods.
I’m not sure if this will be applicable to your situation or not. When I am hunting a foodplot behind my house, I drive my four wheeler past the stand and spook all the deer with it. Sometimes the deer are coming back out before I finish getting set up… I think the machine scares them less than a human, but I drive through there in the afternoons, checking trail cameras or my traps. Some of there lack of fear may be conditioning, but if you have a farm tractor you can drive past them fairly close. I don’t live in an area with much agriculture and I don’t drive my tractors up there often.. I hope that helps…..no matter what you do, keep at it and learn from your mistakes…. You’ll figure it out. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Ok so I have a option. At my house and at my farm I wait until the leaves are down and it is raining then I take a path. It takes a long time but hey you gotta want it Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
