Got some light rain yesterday after 2 months without any. I have a small spring on my club that usually fills up a small hole before it leaks into the ground. Worth an evening sit or are deer typically gonna be feed focused? Never hunted a water hole. Should be acorns dropping close by too.
Patterning (is that a word?) deer over water
- Thread starter Bushape
- Start date
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
put a camera up on the water hole and find out.
but yes, in extreme drought years, I've found deer coming to water at ponds twice a day. But that was the extreme drought fall back in 2017. Best hunting season I've ever had, we just sat within shooting distance of the few ponds that still had water.
but yes, in extreme drought years, I've found deer coming to water at ponds twice a day. But that was the extreme drought fall back in 2017. Best hunting season I've ever had, we just sat within shooting distance of the few ponds that still had water.
FLTENNHUNTER1
Well-Known Member
Absolutely worth it. Had a camera set up on just a small round depression in the land that would hold water and I was absolutely shocked how many animals, not only deer, used that tiny little spot. They loved the security...
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
If there are white oaks on the ground nearby and any good feed sign then the small water hole may be a bonus....but agree....put a camera on it and see for future reference.
I've come to rely pretty heavily on water holes. Having a 24/7/365 water source conveniently located doesn't just attract deer during dry times. It becomes a staple that they gear movement patterns around. Deer use my water holes year round. They're a regular stop along the feed-bed-feed-bed circuit.
I put them between doe bedding and food sources such as plots or acorn groves. Bucks follow the trail that the does use and make it a scrape line, and there's always a scrape next to the water or one each side of it. I just started using them a few years ago. Wish I'd been doing it all along but never bothered because I always heard deer don't need water because they get it from their food. Well, if they don't need it they sure do enjoy it.
I put them between doe bedding and food sources such as plots or acorn groves. Bucks follow the trail that the does use and make it a scrape line, and there's always a scrape next to the water or one each side of it. I just started using them a few years ago. Wish I'd been doing it all along but never bothered because I always heard deer don't need water because they get it from their food. Well, if they don't need it they sure do enjoy it.
deerhunter10
Well-Known Member
We have refocused on them this past couple weeks. Actually just hung a stand on a pond the other day. On normal years we don't pay that much attention to water as we have a lot of water on wet years on out places. But on droughts we are keying big time on them.
