Velvet Hunt

[gatodoc]

I hunted in the CWD zone last year with a gun I believe. Only hunted one morning and the only deer I saw was a very scawney doe. She looked like death and I wanted so badly to shoot her since I figured she might have CWD...rules are rules. I let her walk.

 

[philsanchez76]

My neighbor and I have a stand we will use for the velvet hunt. There aren't a lot of places for the deer to go form there so chances of losing it are pretty low unless it's just a terrible shot. And since we are near our houses it's pretty quick to get the meat skinned and cooled down. I always say I won't be out there cuz no one likes sweat and bugs, but every time I find myself back out in the tree. I think it's mostly cuz it's been so long since last season, im just dying to get out there.

 

[Deer Assassin]

I have always never cared for it . I had a buck I wanted to kill last year and did It was a fun 2x hunt

Heat was the same as end of sept


Probably won't this year because them velvet mounts are spendy

 

[wobblegobble]

I went the first year and haven't tried since...it will depend on if I have a 140 class deer....no interest in killing a normal deer in the heat.

 

[tickweed]

The advantage about the velvet hunt is you have a small window to hunt a mature deer who isnt pressured, who can be on a daylite feeding pattern, mainly in beans. Still not a pushover by any means. It does mean doing plenty of glassing the last hour of daylite, from a long distance, covering alot of ground to find a nice buck, if thats what you are after. Then, having permission to hunt. last year I finally found a smaller, late planted bean field, had a really nice buck along with 6 other smaller bucks, plus lots of does. I only hunted in the evenings, staying way out from the area most deer entered from. Saw prob 30 deer each evening the last hour, they would just pour into field at dusk. Saw my target buck Fri eve., too dark to shoot, sat eve., too dark, and finally he entered sun eve with just enough lite to see crosshairs. He entered the field from 3 different spots the 3 days I saw him, always by himself. Very hot, but still a big challenge. and worth it to me.

 

[themanpcl]

Don't care if it's 110 degrees, I'll be in a tree....

 

[TheLBLman]

. . . . mainly in beans.

Agree about the beans, and am glad it worked out well for you.

May or may not be the case in far West TN, but I suspect the vast majority of TN's deer hunters have little to no significant opportunity to hunt for a velvet buck at the edge of a soybean field.

Call me an old curmudgeon, but I continue to believe the velvet hunt may be more a buck-killing opportunity for poachers & corn baiters than eager hunters following the rules. Of course, this would be much less the case in CWD zones where a rifle gets legally substituted for a bow, and large soybean fields are numerous.

 

[Ski]

No lack of bean fields here in Coffee Co., but I can see how a velvet hunt in mountains or hill/holler country could be nearly impossible. I hadn't considered that thought.

That said, even with ample promising habitat, the hunt isn't as easy as some would think. Wise old bucks are still wise old bucks even in the summer.

 

[Andy S.]

Cant CWD zone velvet hunt with a rifle? Maybe i read it wrong idk...

Correct. Private lands and some public lands in Unit CWD. Archery, muzzleloader or rifle.

 

[deerhunter10]

Nope. We really have given up archery. Makes our farms way better in November. If we have a true giant we will try him maybe on a perfect day in October. I used to want them to do away with the hunt. But the last 2 years we have picked up big deer during that weekend on cameras and kept them one we killed so keep it up. Hard to hunt when it's 100 degrees and most are still grouped up and you need them within 40. Go for it but I'm not blowing up our farms.

 

[megalomaniac]

My favorite hunt of the year. Haven't connected yet, but my son missed a nice 4.5yo 10pt at 30y 2 hunts ago. I passed up a couple 120 to 130in bucks over the 3 or 4 hunts.

I come up a day early, glass the beanfields until I find a buck I want to hunt, spend Friday figuring out where his bachelor group enters/ leaves the beanfield to head to cover, then move in Sat and Sunday to intercept him at fence crossings spot and stalk from the ground.

There's nothing like trying to sneak in on a huge buck with archery tackle. Biggest problem is he is usually with 4 or 5 other bucks and it's hard to get into position with that many eyes and noses.

For a couple of my farms, it's the only chance I'll get at those bucks, as they shift off 2 miles once the velvet comes off, and they don't return until late Jan

And since I'm only hunting for an hour in the morn and an hour in the eve, it's the perfect trip to hang cameras, plant food plots, and spray/ bushhog shooting lanes for established stands during the day.

 

[Bone Collector]

My 32 acres isn't the best for the velvet hunt. I have no bean fields are any of that. So it is mineral sites or bust. I like to go out and sit for a couple hours in the morning and a hour or so in the afternoon just to go. My bigger deer usually shift in, in November.

 

[redblood]

For me, its no longer about the deer. Its about the hunt. For me to full enjoyment out of it, i need autumn leaves and cool temps. I also want a deer to be gray or brown (not red) and have hard horn . But i have no issue with the velvet hunt, as long as it isnt a bonus deer (which its not)

 

[tonybart55]

I've hunted the velvet hunt the past 3-4 years or so but I won't hunt it this year. I don't usually see much and what I do see isn't worth shooting in velvet lol

Plus whenever I go out for one of these hunts it consists of me sitting in 9000% humidity all while thinking "if I shoot a good buck, I'll probably have to pay to shoulder mount it instead of just euro mount since a velvet euro probably wouldn't look good".

I'm gonna let my stands stay Hunter free until opening day this year. See if that makes a difference or not.

 

[fairchaser]

Velvet hunting in a CWD infested area like Ames is different. First, you are hunting beans late in the evening with a high power rifle. That gives you plenty of options. Second, you are probably only going to shoot something really big and old and you'll be able to judge him in the open and from a distance. Third, the meat is very likely infested with CWD and not edible. Our regular processors won't be open that early and it's unlikely the state will be testing that early either. If you kill something, it will be for the horns. But hey, it's deer season! Are you gonna fish or cut bait?

 

[Ski]

Eh, I don't really mind the heat and bugs so much. Thermacell works pretty good. To me it's such a different type of hunt that it has the feeling similar to that of traveling to hunt. It's a specific buck and I hang a stand specifically for him, based on scouting specifically for his trails. It's fun.

By contrast, the normal deer season means established stand sites and shooting whatever mature buck presents himself first, often a surprise buck I've never seen before. I love it, but I also love the velvet hunt. I just love hunting, especially when it's a change of pace.

 

[huvrman]

I would only kill one to mount it, but I'm all out of room in the man cave. Even if I had the space, I probably couldn't afford the inflation-adjusted prices.