I'm gonna have to disagree with you. The deer may not care about the weather, but it controls much of what they do.
The last line is 100% correct....however my own logs/spreadsheets and tracking of trail camera movements in correlation to weather conditions (wind speed, direction, temperature, barometric pressures and incoming/outgoing fronts) most definitely show deer movements are affected by them. No doubt in my mind that they are driven to survive and all of the things they do are driven by that, hence why they are not the kind to not care about wind direction, weather conditions or such...it's all about survival for them they can't be willy nilly. Now young deer are idiots true, but mature does and bucks are an entirely different story and seem to care a lot.
Well I tend to think survival controls a deers movements but I'd agree weather impacts it. My point isn't as much about the deer as the hunter. I often hear guys say stuff like "30 mph gusts all day I'm not going, supposed to rain in the morning I might just wait til the evening, 85 degrees tomorrow they won't be moving" and on and on and on. Yet the fact remains whitetails have been killed in just about any weather scenario/time of day you can think of so if you get a chance to hunt...hunt. Don't talk yourself out of hunting thinking you know every deer and movement a deer might make...simple truth is we don't.
I'm not saying deer are willy nilly I'm just saying they move in the rain, in the heat, in high winds, during storms(not just before & after), at random times that don't fit what we think are "normal". Lots of hunters are not hunting when conditions are uncomfortable(to us) all I'm saying is deer don't have that luxury, they are deer every day. I track and log pics, sigthings, harvests, weather, etc. as well and I have a good idea of where I can be successful but that's a long way from knowing everything the deer are doing. Every hunter on here can probably think of multiple times they have seen deer somewhere/sometime/some weather they never would of expected to see deer, yet there they were.
Shoot what you want, But... If you want to kill a 'Bigun - you gotta' be willing to let the little one walk. (Something I struggle with here in New York State).
Brad so glad you are an interpreter' I,m sure Greg would never lay down on the job... but for those of us reading his post it is a small detail that doesn't, matter much in the grand scheme of things... :}
1. Accept the fact that deer are weird animals and alot of time do completely unpredictable crap. 2. Food and water sources are overrated IMO, make sure to hang a stand(s) in alternate areas, even if theres limited cover. 3. Plan for the worst case scenario, especially when it comes to trail cam pictures. makes hunting alot more enjoyable haha. 4. Oregano does great things for venison. 5. aim small miss small
Spot on. Couldn't agree more. hell according to all of my trail cameras the best time to hunt would be in the middle of the night haha.
I've heard several elders tell me this exact thing. They said between 9am-1pm. Killed a beautiful buck last season with this exact tactic.
1. Spend more time SCOUTING than hunting 2. Find bedding areas and recognize the beds your looking at. 2-5 beds = doe bedding, good for rut hunting. One big bed = buck bed, if he's big enough try to kill him. Don't be afraid to sit down next to the bed a few feet away and take a look from his view. He's bedding there for a reason, majority of the time with the wind at his back and some sort of barrier behind him while his field of view is wide open to watch you approach him. 3. Hunt when the wind is good for him and just okay for you, that's usually when you get close enough for the shot. 4. If you hunt public or land with multiple people hunting it, plan on hunting the hunters NOT the deer. You know how every hunter is going to access where they want to go, be the odd ball and use the hunters in your favor. 5. MOST IMPORTANT - BE MOBILE! Quit sitting in the same dang stand!
I think cigar smoke is a great cover scent. I smoked for many years and killed a lot of deer with a cigarette in my mouth. My breath and my clothes smelled worse than the south end of a northbound skunk.
Cigar/Ciggs/chew...whatever....from a deers perspective is better than a predator's raw scent and/or breath. As far as that goes, many things that smell great to us are extremely repulsive to deer. Dial soap....deer hate dial soap, I've used dial soap to keep deer out of sweet corn patches. I don't smoke (though I do vape a little) but my point was that bad breath is something to be weary of, I've had good luck with odor killing gum.
Interesting you guys I thought I was just being an zzz smoking a cigar on stand after a hard day of putting up stands and didn't care about killing anything I was just chilling out. There was probably a beer involved as well:-/
I think if you walk through a cornfield going to your stand it helps with the scent a little by the time you get in the woods, at least thats what I liked to think haha. We have 180 acres where 40ish is Timber, alot scattered, and the rest is just super thick brush/bushes/ small trees, really thick. I rented a brush cutter and made our own trails, to avoid deer trails. Worked pretty good so far!
