#1852751 - 03/24/10 09:40 AM
Knowing When
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TN RDG RNR
12 Point
Registered: 06/28/07
Posts: 6086
Loc: Rhea County
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As deer season progresses (early season, pre-rut, peak-rut, post-rut, and late season) its important that you shift gears too. I thought it would be interesting to hear how and when you switch strategies as the season unfolds.
early season - Because of the hot temps this is the only time I don't hunt deep. I try and set up within a few hundred yards of field or thick browse. If I have my choice this time of year I prefer evenings. The problem with morning hunting its difficult entering my stand area then because the deer are either in the fields or just inside the woods line.
pre-rut - This is my favorite time of the year to be in the woods. The leaves and temps are falling. Bucks are on their feet. I concentrate on terrain features that will funnel deer in the big woods the deeper the better. I don't mind sitting all day late October on.
The rut and post-rut I suck at. Everything I read it should be a mature bucks most vulnerable time of year. I've killed a few with a gun but struggle with my bow year in and year out so I'm anxious to hear what yall do to be successful.
late season - Is the toughest time of year to hunt for a number of reasons. I like hunting as close to a bedding area as possible because I believe bucks hold up and move very little during daylight hours in a attempt to conserve energy and because of the pressure put on them throughout the season.
_________________________
WARNING: The above post may contain sarcasm and/or sophisticated satire. I will not be held liable for any psychological damage sustained.
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#1852773 - 03/24/10 09:50 AM
Re: Knowing When
[Re: TN RDG RNR]
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smstone22
16 Point
Registered: 01/11/04
Posts: 16252
Loc: Allardt, TN
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Early season in the first bow season I hunt food sources or at least near to them most of the time because I just want a doe or two. Just prior to when the rifles start at night and then muzzleloader starts and everything that moves starts getting shot, its time to go very deep,way away from roads, fields, anything human. Get in deep right by thickets or in them, that are also in natural funnels and stay in these places no other humans go to the rest of the year. Im a firm believer that mature bucks here just stay deep year round unless you have a rather secure place for them and with some exceptions when they will come down to the fields in Summer to eat. I really believe the vast majority of 4.5 year old plus bucks just stay very deep though all year, at least here.
_________________________
-QDM=Better Deer, Better Deer Hunting
- Fentress Roots 200 years and growing
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#1852821 - 03/24/10 10:19 AM
Re: Knowing When
[Re: smstone22]
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BigWes50
10 Point
Registered: 03/04/07
Posts: 3207
Loc: Chattanooga, TN
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Early season in the first bow season I hunt food sources or at least near to them most of the time because I just want a doe or two. Just prior to when the rifles start at night and then muzzleloader starts and everything that moves starts getting shot, its time to go very deep,way away from roads, fields, anything human. Get in deep right by thickets or in them, that are also in natural funnels and stay in these places no other humans go to the rest of the year. Im a firm believer that mature bucks here just stay deep year round unless you have a rather secure place for them and with some exceptions when they will come down to the fields in Summer to eat. I really believe the vast majority of 4.5 year old plus bucks just stay very deep though all year, at least here.
Excatly very well said!
_________________________
Just as the deer can suddenly materialize in the woods, "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect" (Matthew 24:44)
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#1852872 - 03/24/10 11:00 AM
Re: Knowing When
[Re: BigWes50]
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BowGuy84
10 Point
Registered: 09/16/07
Posts: 4847
Loc: Nashville, TN and Louisville, ...
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Early season I am like most of yall...close to fields and food. There is plent of cover as things are still green. I also focus on the evening. This is when it is easy to pattern deer in fields and I get a lot of doe kills.
Pre rut I qualify and starting with the first cool snap in oct or the full moon. Then I start to move back in the oaks and on travel coridors.
Rut, I focus on doe bedding areas or transisiton areas between large chunks of land. I get more agressive at this time and gunt and rattle a good bit. Also when I stay on stand all day. For me this time starts the 5-6th of Nov here in KY.
Post rut, I go back to bow only public ground and get on food sources in the evenings...I dont hardly hunt private groud bc of the pressure that gets put on the heard during gun season.
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#1852907 - 03/24/10 11:20 AM
Re: Knowing When
[Re: BowGuy84]
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Football Hunter
18 Point
Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 24550
Loc: Wilson Co/Perry Co
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Early season,food sources like everyone else
Pre rut,still try to stay between bedding and food sources,
Rut,I like ridges where I can climb high,use the wind and stay for a while
post rut...last year I hardly saw a deer
_________________________
The best day to plant a tree,IS TODAY!
You wont know,if you dont go!
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#1852911 - 03/24/10 11:24 AM
Re: Knowing When
[Re: BowGuy84]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59548
Loc: Nashville, TN
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I no longer hunt early season because only bows are allowed. But when I did hunt that period, I focused on early fall food sources.
If by "pre-rut" you mean the point at which bucks are switching to "rut" patterns but the does aren't in estrus yet, then that is my favorite time to hunt. That is when we kill the vast majority of mature bucks we are going to kill. I like to hunt terrain/habitat travel corridors at this time hoping to catch a mature buck moving and seeking the first receptive does.
Peak rut I hunt 1) deer concentration points, focusing on those with the most active sign (rubs and scrapes); and 2) the edges of thick cover/sanctuaries, hoping a catch a mature buck "driving" a doe he is tending back into the thick cover as she tries to escape.
I suck at post-rut hunting.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#1852919 - 03/24/10 11:30 AM
Re: Knowing When
[Re: BSK]
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Football Hunter
18 Point
Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 24550
Loc: Wilson Co/Perry Co
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"I suck at post rut hunting" an honest man,me too.
Seems like I go 5 times ,see nothing,then the next time Ill see 10,whats up with that?
_________________________
The best day to plant a tree,IS TODAY!
You wont know,if you dont go!
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#1852930 - 03/24/10 11:37 AM
Re: Knowing When
[Re: TN RDG RNR]
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Double-D-Team
10 Point
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 3483
Loc: God's Country
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Good Question...
Early Season- Tree lines next to fields, doe time or velvet buck... (evening hunts)
Pre Rut- Rubs and scrape lines. Bucks checking for hot doe's...(hunt all day)
Rut- Find the doe's and you will find the bucks. pinch points...(hunt all day)
Post Rut- Find a spot between food and bedding area...(hunt mid day)
Late Season- Large open fields, food is the key...(all day with good optics)
Simple, but it works for me...
_________________________
Don and Dee (DOUBLE-D-TEAM)
THE RICHEST VALUES OF WILDERNESS LIE NOT IN THE DAYS OF DANIEL BOONE NOR EVEN IN THE PRESENT. BUT IN THE FUTURE--LEOPOLD
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#1852981 - 03/24/10 12:18 PM
Re: Knowing When
[Re: BowGuy84]
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BoneHead1
4 Point
Registered: 09/15/09
Posts: 199
Loc: East tn
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As soon as bow starts here in the east the white oaks start to drop. The deer seem to change their patterns. Don't really have any fields to set up on so if the whites are falling I go back to trees I think the deer prefer to eat under.
I took off the end of oct. to bow hunt deep in the mts so I have some foot wrk to do when turkey season opens. Love that time of yr though.
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#1853030 - 03/24/10 01:10 PM
Re: Knowing When
[Re: BoneHead1]
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Pursuit Hunter
8 Point
Registered: 10/01/08
Posts: 2084
Loc: Way out there
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I just follow the food sources. Usually goes something like this as the season progresses: chestnut oaks/black oaks -> white oaks -> white oaks/red oaks/persimmons -> red oaks -> then whatever is still green (fields, honysuckle, even cedars in a bad year). In bad mast years I've killed 'em under osage orange and locust trees. I've never seen it, but my buddy swears he's killed one eating hickory nuts in a bad acorn year.
Don't really hunt differently relative to the rut 'cause deer always have to eat and if I can figure our where the does are feeding, the bucks will find me.
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