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During the early deer hunting season, many deer are still in their natural summer habits. Summer habits can be both a blessing and a curse.
For instance, the curse is that you do not get all of the excitement of the rut. However, the blessing is that the bucks are still in their feeding patterns during early October.
Personally, I like the early deer hunting season for that specific reason. I get to pattern these bucks using trail cameras all summer long. Then, when it is time to hunt, I have a good idea of how the bucks are using the property.
Here is an overview of what we will be covering in this article. These 5 tips will help you form an early season strategy that will produce results!
- Location
- Wind & Scent control
- Time of Day
- Entry Points
- Doe V. Buck Movement
Early Season Hunting Locations
Deciding where you want to hunt can be difficult in the early deer season; however, the place where you will see the most deer will be a major food source. As deer are spending many of their evenings feeding.
Yet, you may run into a problem if you are trying to harvest a specific buck during the early deer hunting season.
Mature bucks are almost always the last ones into the open field. I will talk more about this in tip #5
So this begs the question, where should I hunt if I want to harvest a specific buck in the early deer hunting season?
I have found the most success when I sit on travel paths that lead out to major food sources or water sources. These spots are killer because the buck will be hanging back in his core areas waiting for it to get darker.
One way you can identify these travel paths that bachelor groups use is by looking for rub lines on the field edges.
Then, as he is starting to move into the food sources, BANG! You are right on his travel path and ready to take your shot.
A more untalked-about place to hunt during the early deer hunting season would be transition areas from one food to another. Deer often want to feel as safe as possible. So they will use small woods to conceal themselves before stepping out into another food source. Deer hunters often want to hunt in tree stands right on the edge of the woods. However, 10-20 yards inside the woods are a great place to hunt early season whitetails.
As you can tell everything is driven by the food source during the early deer hunting season. That is just how deer think at this time of the year. Eat. Sleep. Drink. Eat. Repeat. This is their feeding pattern.
Bedding areas are also great for morning hunts during the early deer hunting season. They are harder to get to but they will pay off.
I will talk more about bedding areas below.
Early Deer Hunting Season: Wind Direction & Scent Control
The wind is the most difficult aspect of hunting to beat especially in the early deer hunting season. As the bucks are not quite looking to breed, they make fewer mistakes. This means that the mature ones are especially cautious of any sort of danger.
You need to stay out of their noses the entire early season. Letting a mature buck get your wind will result in that buck having information that he is being hunted and something unnatural is in the woods.
When a mature buck knows that he is being hunted, it can and most likely will cause him to act in more calculated, precise, and cautious ways.
You avoid letting a mature buck get your wind by only hunting spots that are right for the wind direction. If a spot does not have a good wind based on your knowledge of the deer movement in that area, do not force a hunt and ruin your best chances at shooting your target buck.
Instead, hunt somewhere the wind is in your favor. Even if you have to take a hunting chair and sit on the ground. That is better than getting winded by a mature buck.
Bucks have a daily routine and during early archery season, white-tailed deer will use the wind to their advantage to get to ag fields, small food plots, clover fields, and their deer bed.
Wind Shifts
A wind shift is anytime the wind switches directions. Wind shifts get the best of all hunters at some point. They are inevitable.
If a wind shift occurs early in your hunt, you could always change spots quickly. However, if the wind shift happens during your prime time, there is only one thing that can save you… Scent control.
Scent Control
Scent control is the practice of trying to reduce the amount of human scent that you bring into the woods. Many hunters will use scent-free soap, a scent-killing field spray, or even scent-free laundry detergent.
I use all of those products because having good scent control can make a huge difference in your hunt. However, it is nearly impossible to completely eliminate your human order. Not even Ozonics will do that.
Scent control and wind direction both play a major role in being able to fool a deer’s nose. Wind helps you decide on a good hunting spot that will keep you downwind during this time of year, and scent control is your last line of defense in case of a wind shift, unexpected deer movement in an opposite direction, or if a deer is right on the edge of your scent cone.
The goal here is to play the wind right and control your scent as much as possible. Learn How Wind Affects Deer Movement
You will not be able to get away with many mistakes of this nature during early bow season because mature deer are on high alert and the rut has not turned all the bucks into doe-chasing idiots yet.
Early Deer Hunting Season: Time of Day to Hunt
The time of day that you choose to go hunting will be completely based on your own preferences and the time restraints that you have. However, in general, hunters claim that the evening hunts during early and mid-October are the only hunts that are worth sitting. I disagree.
Early Deer Hunting Season: Evening Hunts
Evening hunts over a food source (specifically a big open crop field) are great to see lots of deer. However, there is a problem.
The big buck you are after tends not to be out until after dark or literally 5 min left in daylight hours. So yes, evening hunts will be a great time full of seeing deer… just maybe not the one you want to harvest.
What should you do?
You will want to use the knowledge that you gained from your trail camera pictures, scouting, and prior knowledge of the property to form an educated strategy. Learn More About The Best Time to Hunt Whitetails.
Most of the time, mature bucks will be out of their bed and traveling to that big food source before the legal shooting light has faded away. They just will not step into that open field until they feel safer.
This means, that you need to find where the buck is bedding, how is the buck getting to that food source or crop field, and how can you ambush the buck on his travel from the bed to the food.
Seems easy I know. But, it isn’t because if it was everyone would be hunting and killing a good buck every time.
Early Deer Hunting Season: Morning Hunts
Morning hunts are definitely less eventful; however, they can be capitalized on if you know where a buck is bedding.
If you can find the bucks core area, you will want to get in your treestand extremely early. Then you just wait for that buck to start sneaking back into his bedding area after a long night of eating and BAM! That is an arrow in the side of a buck.
Also sounds simple, but it is not. The trick is to play the wind, control your scent, know where that buck is bedding, and get in early enough to ensure that the buck hasn’t already bedded down.
Entry Points
Your entry and exit routes are the make-and-break moments of any early deer hunting season hunt. You want to get in and out undetected by any of the mature bucks in the area.
Does spook more frequently but they are more likely to calm down and still come back. Do not worry too much if you spook a doe or two.
This topic deserves its own post because of how important it is. I will link the article here once I have time to write it. However, I will cover the basics with you today!
When you are entering a hunting property in the morning during an early season hunt, where are the deer most likely at? The food source is correct.
Do you think it is a good idea to go and walk through an open bean field with a headlamp on? Probably not.
Try to enter from a location that does not have lots of food. Then get to your hunting spot (that should be near a bedding area if it is a morning hunt).
By doing this, you will avoid spooking a whole field of deer and ruining your hunt for the morning.
If you want to hunt in the evening (and you should because it is the best time during the early season). Then try to enter a food source because most of the deer will be bedded down during the middle of the day.
Get to your hunting spot that should be looking over a nice kill plot or another food source. Then wait for the deer to start coming out to feed for the night.
The key takeaway is to avoid entering or exiting a property where the deer are most likely to be. If you have to spook deer… try to give them a fake deer blow or coyote howl. These sounds are natural and will help cover your entry and exits.
Also, it is important to continue to play the wind to your advantage while you are entering specifically. Keep the wind in your face and walk slowly to reduce noise.
Quick Tip: When walking in the woods before or after a hunt, try to put your heel down first and then slowly roll onto your toes. This will help you stay quieter in the woods and spook fewer deer that you cannot quite see.
Doe Vs. Buck Movement
The dynamic of the woods is beautiful yet a complete 180-degree turn of what humans would view as honorable.
In our human society, men (bucks) lead the people they are responsible for such as a team, a family, or an event. They are called to be leaders and be the first line of defense to protect the women (does) and children (fawns).
However, in the whitetail woods, it is the exact opposite. The doe and her fawns will head into the open field. If all seems safe and they are comfortable, then more does will continue to come.
After some time of the does feeling comfortable and not spooked, then the bucks will start to feel like it is safe enough to come out into the open.
Remember this as you are hunting in the early season because it is the core dynamic of how deer move as a herd.
Try to remember that when you are seeing plenty of does in a food source but not the bucks. Just give it time and be patient because they will be coming sooner or later and you want them to believe that it is a safe place for them.
Deer in the early hunting season are focused on ONE thing and ONE thing only. Survival.
Conclusion
The early deer hunting season is often overlooked and underutilized. However, if you can recognize the summer patterns of the deer that you are hunting, then your odds of being able to find early-season success are much higher than in the rut.
So focus on the essentials. Food, Bedding, Water, travel, and Wind. Put the time in the woods and a good strategy and I have no doubts that you will get shot opportunities and find success.
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