What are your early season strategies?
- Thread starter Brushpile
- Start date
wbpdeer
Well-Known Member
Brush,
I will be in the stand on Saturday, Sept 3rd in Kentucky. That is two weeks from today. I have a ladder stand about 25 yards from the river at a pinch point against a bluff and bend in the river. Over my right shoulder are the only beans for about 2 miles.
I figure I am staying out of it in the am and in the pm hunt I will get in there early. It is a 20 foot ladder stand. The deer will be seen about 80 yards out.
It pays to have a plan. Game cameras tell me there are two shooter bucks bedding up the river in the one of two hollows. They come by me to hit the dinner table.
My am hunt will be determined by game camera info the last five days before opening day. A blowing rain can drop a bunch of acorns that change the deer patterns in the timber. I am counting on the soybeans early on.
Like I said - got to have a plan. Hope the deer cooperate.
I will be in the stand on Saturday, Sept 3rd in Kentucky. That is two weeks from today. I have a ladder stand about 25 yards from the river at a pinch point against a bluff and bend in the river. Over my right shoulder are the only beans for about 2 miles.
I figure I am staying out of it in the am and in the pm hunt I will get in there early. It is a 20 foot ladder stand. The deer will be seen about 80 yards out.
It pays to have a plan. Game cameras tell me there are two shooter bucks bedding up the river in the one of two hollows. They come by me to hit the dinner table.
My am hunt will be determined by game camera info the last five days before opening day. A blowing rain can drop a bunch of acorns that change the deer patterns in the timber. I am counting on the soybeans early on.
Like I said - got to have a plan. Hope the deer cooperate.
Turkey Creek
Well-Known Member
Isolated bucks with limited water sources. If that fails then I rely on dumb luck!
swat1018
Well-Known Member
Archery, Sept. 15.
Wayne, MO archery starts September 15th, but it's rare to see a deer in September where I hunt, and I don't use game cameras because I like to be surprised. I'm in a river bottom that rises into high hills, and I'm convinced that the big bucks come down out of the hills during the rut. BTW, that 16 point buck I shot a couple years ago was hit in the spine, lived and never seen again.
I'll shoot the first deer I see to give Elkie a blood trail, and those young deer I shot last year ate a lot better than the 5.5-7.5 I shot the year before. I'd also like to fill my tag before the rut, when I get an increase in tracking calls. Still, there's a big buck that I saw last year, and he has my name on him, so I'd like to shoot an early doe and save my buck tag. ;-)
Early season I'll be in a blind and only hunt with the wind in my favor. I like to set up about 20 yards off a well used trail, and I have a spot that never fails, but I won't hunt that spot until mid October.
I'll shoot the first deer I see to give Elkie a blood trail, and those young deer I shot last year ate a lot better than the 5.5-7.5 I shot the year before. I'd also like to fill my tag before the rut, when I get an increase in tracking calls. Still, there's a big buck that I saw last year, and he has my name on him, so I'd like to shoot an early doe and save my buck tag. ;-)
Early season I'll be in a blind and only hunt with the wind in my favor. I like to set up about 20 yards off a well used trail, and I have a spot that never fails, but I won't hunt that spot until mid October.
catscratch
Well-Known Member
Shoot a lot of doves, and don't screw up my November stands.
j-bird
Well-Known Member
I stay home until a cold front shows up. That may sound harsh but I will explain. #1 - I don't house bucks on my property so I have nearly ZERO chance of killing a buck I am after on a feeding pattern in the early season. #2 - hunting early season I avoid taking a doe, so hunting early season does nothing more than increase the opportunity to educate the resident does. I use those does as "buck bait" later in the season....so educating them and bumping them off the plots and the like is VERY BAD for my buck hunting in November #3 - in my area until the ag fields start to be harvested the deer are spread out. Only once the standing corn is harvested do the deer have a significant reason to be pushed back into the woods. #4 - The early season tends to cause changes in my area. Fields that where feeding or harboring the deer today can be harvested and wiped clean the next, acorns are dropping and the amount of activity by people picks up as well.
Like I said....I essentially stay home in the early season....Once Halloween gets close then I will start hunting. Only real hunting I do in the early season is our "youth hunt" it's the last weekend in September - I will do everything I can to help get a kid a deer.
Like I said....I essentially stay home in the early season....Once Halloween gets close then I will start hunting. Only real hunting I do in the early season is our "youth hunt" it's the last weekend in September - I will do everything I can to help get a kid a deer.
g squared 23
Well-Known Member
Find out if bucks are bedding on the property. This was done during winter scouting. If there aren't, wait until October 24th, which is the 1st day I had a shooter on trail cam during daylight last year. Hunt buck bedding areas on public land and lower personal standards considerably.
If there are bucks bedding on the property, attempt to set up on them when they will using that bed, with a wind ALMOST in his favor, but not quite.
We were a doe factory until the early rut last year, and didn't step foot on the property until November 5th. Shot a good buck on the 7th which was the 1st time in our honey hole.
If there are bucks bedding on the property, attempt to set up on them when they will using that bed, with a wind ALMOST in his favor, but not quite.
We were a doe factory until the early rut last year, and didn't step foot on the property until November 5th. Shot a good buck on the 7th which was the 1st time in our honey hole.
Triple C
Well-Known Member
Brush - Great thread! Archery opens in GA on Sept 8th. Prolly won't hunt the 1st couple of weeks due to normally hot weather. By the time we start hunting the acorns are dropping. I'll be perched in one of the ladder stands in a hardwood draw where the acorns are falling.
Merle Hawggard
Well-Known Member
You all open early! I've got to wait till Sept 24. My main strategy is to find out where neahawg wants to hunt then go to the other farm.
dogghr
Well-Known Member
Wow the year goes fast. Early bear season starts in couple weeks will probably hunt that some. No baiting in this state so much like a deer hunt with lots of thinking and leg work. Only a sow with cubs this year on my place but she's my friend and always gets a free pass anyway.
Deer season opens late Sept and I've not missed many opening days with my son so may try to bust a doe on front edge of property with him. Then nothing till Nov when weather cools and my south facing land attracts my buck crowd. Will hunt perimeter stands as rut begins to kick then move to my prime rut stand. I have a couple of new Random Cluster pockets this year that I hope will hold additional bucks on some rocky ridge tops, or maybe I sweated for no reason. Good luck to everyone.
Deer season opens late Sept and I've not missed many opening days with my son so may try to bust a doe on front edge of property with him. Then nothing till Nov when weather cools and my south facing land attracts my buck crowd. Will hunt perimeter stands as rut begins to kick then move to my prime rut stand. I have a couple of new Random Cluster pockets this year that I hope will hold additional bucks on some rocky ridge tops, or maybe I sweated for no reason. Good luck to everyone.
We made a few changes in tactics last year that really seemed to pay off. First we virtually did not hunt mornings until pre rut was getting started. Second, we did all of our hunting from timber edges and plots with good access/exits. It was the the first time we ever had consistent day time buck pics for the entire season. We tweaked a bunch of stand locations to make the strategy work and we intend to stay with that approach but probably with a little more fine tuning of locations.
Nebraskaz71
Active Member
Sept 1 here, i raked some area in my back lawn and peed in it lol but really I did, I have limited places to hunt especially this time of year so we shall see what comes to my ladder stand.
Gator
Well-Known Member
I planted close to 8 acres of beans, mostly ag beans, but planted three strategic spots with Eagles with the hopes that when the rest start to yellow, the Eagle will continue to grow and concentrate the deer to smaller bow huntable spots. Last year with nothing but ag beans, once they started to yellow, the deer all dispersed. We will see if the plan works come Oct 1.
I envy you guys with September start dates. Here the bucks are still in summer feeding pattern and finding them is easy even in the big timber where I hunt.
Our bow opener is October 1st and my plan is to see what is going on at the hollow per trail cam surveys. If the only buck I have that is patternable is still doing what he has been doing all along then I will be sitting in a stand along a pinch point between a creek bottom and the head of a very deep hollow. Stand is roughly dead center of our 80 but is the least intrusive set I can do and expect success. My other option is to walk the entire east side to the back of the property and try to catch him entering but IMO this has been more intrusive than the center stand as our deer bed off of our place and travel into it to feed so going out for an evening hunt if you leave early enough you will not spook deer...getting out is a different story and takes a tricky exit.
If he has changed his pattern due to acorn drop by then (last year he left the property on Oct 7th and didn't return until January) and is not to be found on camera survey I will hunt our deer lease for mature bucks and I will hunt our other property (Home 10) for does keeping pressure off Whitetail Hollow. I will start hunting the hollow in earnest the last week in October...
Our bow opener is October 1st and my plan is to see what is going on at the hollow per trail cam surveys. If the only buck I have that is patternable is still doing what he has been doing all along then I will be sitting in a stand along a pinch point between a creek bottom and the head of a very deep hollow. Stand is roughly dead center of our 80 but is the least intrusive set I can do and expect success. My other option is to walk the entire east side to the back of the property and try to catch him entering but IMO this has been more intrusive than the center stand as our deer bed off of our place and travel into it to feed so going out for an evening hunt if you leave early enough you will not spook deer...getting out is a different story and takes a tricky exit.
If he has changed his pattern due to acorn drop by then (last year he left the property on Oct 7th and didn't return until January) and is not to be found on camera survey I will hunt our deer lease for mature bucks and I will hunt our other property (Home 10) for does keeping pressure off Whitetail Hollow. I will start hunting the hollow in earnest the last week in October...
Blizzard Ridge
Well-Known Member
Through the month of September I will continue to glass fields every evening watching the buck patterns. I have already located 3 or 4 shooters and will watch them in the evenings to see if their every day patterns change. I know after velvet shed some of them will disperse to new home ranges but that also means that new bucks will show up to make my farms their home range. I will continue to check my cameras every couple of weeks to see what new shows up. Once a shooter starts showing himself I will go glass fields every night until I find where he enters and exits the fields to feed.
I have preset stands between food and water that I am hoping will be within the potential shooters travel corridors. I will then wait until the right day/wind/weather and moon and I will go after him. I won't hit it to hard until late October but I also know that if I find one feeding the same area every evening I better go after him before he changes his food preference do to harvest.
I have preset stands between food and water that I am hoping will be within the potential shooters travel corridors. I will then wait until the right day/wind/weather and moon and I will go after him. I won't hit it to hard until late October but I also know that if I find one feeding the same area every evening I better go after him before he changes his food preference do to harvest.
mthornton99
Member
No desire to hunt Alabama in September. Way too hot! We open Oct 15 and often it's still too hot then.
I'll probably spend more early season time scouting/camera watching and looking for acorns dropping than actually hunting. If a cool front coincides with some free time I'll be hunting the acorns(if we have any) or the trails leading to our food plots. Not overly worried about shooting anything early unless I have an opportunity at Mr.Big. A lot of does will still have small fawns with them. Primary focus is learning travel patterns since this is still a new property(2nd season), so I can be prepared for later/cooler movements and the rut.
Now if one of those elusive hogs is seen, I will certainly try to kill it. I would love to shoot one with my bow, but I would love even more to not have any on the property to shoot.
Way too hot! We open Oct 15 and often it's still too hot then.I'll probably spend more early season time scouting/camera watching and looking for acorns dropping than actually hunting. If a cool front coincides with some free time I'll be hunting the acorns(if we have any) or the trails leading to our food plots. Not overly worried about shooting anything early unless I have an opportunity at Mr.Big. A lot of does will still have small fawns with them. Primary focus is learning travel patterns since this is still a new property(2nd season), so I can be prepared for later/cooler movements and the rut.
Now if one of those elusive hogs is seen, I will certainly try to kill it. I would love to shoot one with my bow, but I would love even more to not have any on the property to shoot.
Steve Bartylla
Member
For me, that pretty much nails how I've been able to tag bucks early. Find him, figure pout what he tends to do and, if he does it in daylight, try to kill him. If he is there, yet isn't moving where I can safely hunt him in daylight until after dark, I wait on him until my observations and/or cams are telling me he is now moving in daylight or, if he'd at least flirting within an hour of daylight, move in the first good 10+ degree temp drop, non-stormy day, but that's only if he is within an hour of legal light.....Otherwise, I just try to hunt low impact stands that won't risk educating him before late Oct, when I'm going to get serious about trying to kill him no matter what the recon has told me.
