Whitetail neophyte

[tellico4x4]

Welcome to TN & TnDeer from a guy in AL!

As out west, onX is your friend here too. Grew up in TN & just live 6 miles south of it now. Have hunted a lot out west, Midwest & south in my 69 years. Southern whitetail are tough and a totally different breed to the ones that live along creeks & river bottoms out west & Midwest. Our abundant cover & food makes it a challenge, especially with a bow. Even though there are tons of acorns, on just about any property there is always some trees that deer prefer than others. That's where you want to be. Whitetail have to have cover for bedding, gonna eat & gonna breed. That's the basics for them. With the hot weather right now & they have winter coats on, expect a bunch to be nocturnal, which just adds to the difficulty.
Cooler weather & rut is just around the corner so if I was you I'd be concentrating on finding does as that's where the bucks will be shortly. Figure out where the does are bedding & feeding. Bucks will be cruising and checking out those areas. During that time you'll want to be in woods as much as possible.
As others have said, hunt the wind. You can fool a whitetails ears & eyes but you'll never fool its nose. I'm so anal about it that I have an Xcel chart with stands broken out by optimum wind directions. Whatever direction the wind is, then I immediately know which ones to choose from. Along those same lines, you have to consider the wind on approaching stand as well.
Good luck & with as much hunting you have under your belt, you will figure it out. There's a wealth of knowledge here and most are willing to share it. Also you can do a search for threads for just about any topic like rut dates for your area.

 

[Brokenbow]

Welcome to TN & TnDeer from a guy in AL!

As out west, onX is your friend here too. Grew up in TN & just live 6 miles south of it now. Have hunted a lot out west, Midwest & south in my 69 years. Southern whitetail are tough and a totally different breed to the ones that live along creeks & river bottoms out west & Midwest. Our abundant cover & food makes it a challenge, especially with a bow. Even though there are tons of acorns, on just about any property there is always some trees that deer prefer than others. That's where you want to be. Whitetail have to have cover for bedding, gonna eat & gonna breed. That's the basics for them. With the hot weather right now & they have winter coats on, expect a bunch to be nocturnal, which just adds to the difficulty.
Cooler weather & rut is just around the corner so if I was you I'd be concentrating on finding does as that's where the bucks will be shortly. Figure out where the does are bedding & feeding. Bucks will be cruising and checking out those areas. During that time you'll want to be in woods as much as possible.
As others have said, hunt the wind. You can fool a whitetails ears & eyes but you'll never fool its nose. I'm so anal about it that I have an Xcel chart with stands broken out by optimum wind directions. Whatever direction the wind is, then I immediately know which ones to choose from. Along those same lines, you have to consider the wind on approaching stand as well.
Good luck & with as much hunting you have under your belt, you will figure it out. There's a wealth of knowledge here and most are willing to share it. Also you can do a search for threads for just about any topic like rut dates for your area.

Thank you so much for the reply! Will definitely do those things. This is a huge change from what I'm used too that's for sure.

 

[Bloodwolf1984]

I've been hunting public land in tn since I was 15...I'm 39 years old now and let me tell you...it's tough...I've learned a lot in this time tho...anybody that can go on public land and kill deer with a bow is a true hunter....here's the best advice I can give you....get the wind in your face...look for places where many trails come to one...think outside the box...HUNT THE THICK STUFF..hunt travel areas..deer are not hard to find here...but very hard to kill...hope it helps

 

[Brokenbow]

I've been hunting public land in tn since I was 15...I'm 39 years old now and let me tell you...it's tough...I've learned a lot in this time tho...anybody that can go on public land and kill deer with a bow is a true hunter....here's the best advice I can give you....get the wind in your face...look for places where many trails come to one...think outside the box...HUNT THE THICK STUFF..hunt travel areas..deer are not hard to find here...but very hard to kill...hope it helps

Heck yes it helps! Thank you so much for your reply

 

[tree_ghost]

I have a tree saddle and have spent several hours in it. As crunchy as the woods are right now it would be dang near impossible to stalk something I'd imagine. Thank you for the advice.

Welcome to the fire!!!!

You're right stalking a deer right now in the timber is about as tall an order as man could make. There are times when it's more advantageous IMO to try and stalk one. Early season being one of those when the bucks can often be found in row crops or fields of various types. Right now we're in the pre-rut phase and feed trees and scrapes are the hot ticket items for all the deer right now. I would encourage you to spend your time through this coming weekend covering ground and locating both feed trees and scrapes. If you come up on some hot sign then try to use you tracker feature in OnX to map your entry and exit. It can be very disorienting entering and exiting the woods in the dark and you can easily blow all the deer in the area out if you don't have a good plan for egress. After the cold front hits early next week go slip in there with your saddle and set up downwind of your targeted sign. Don't beat yourself up to bad right now if you're not seeing deer. You are attempting to learn in about the most difficult conditions you could be given. Hot, dry, acorns for years, and more cover in the woods still than I've seen in many seasons. The good news is your in a good area with lots of access to land and plenty of deer on it. Good luck and have fun!

 

[DoubleRidge]

Welcome to TnDeer...conditions will improve soon with a temp drop and in November your sightings should increase with pre-rut and rut activity...its going to get right very soon...stay after them.

 

[Brokenbow]

Welcome to TnDeer...conditions will improve soon with a temp drop and in November your sightings should increase with pre-rut and rut activity...its going to get right very soon...stay after them.

Thank you for the reply. I'm ready for the cooler weather.

 

[Brokenbow]

Welcome to the fire!!!!

You're right stalking a deer right now in the timber is about as tall an order as man could make. There are times when it's more advantageous IMO to try and stalk one. Early season being one of those when the bucks can often be found in row crops or fields of various types. Right now we're in the pre-rut phase and feed trees and scrapes are the hot ticket items for all the deer right now. I would encourage you to spend your time through this coming weekend covering ground and locating both feed trees and scrapes. If you come up on some hot sign then try to use you tracker feature in OnX to map your entry and exit. It can be very disorienting entering and exiting the woods in the dark and you can easily blow all the deer in the area out if you don't have a good plan for egress. After the cold front hits early next week go slip in there with your saddle and set up downwind of your targeted sign. Don't beat yourself up to bad right now if you're not seeing deer. You are attempting to learn in about the most difficult conditions you could be given. Hot, dry, acorns for years, and more cover in the woods still than I've seen in many seasons. The good news is your in a good area with lots of access to land and plenty of deer on it. Good luck and have fun!

First of all, thank you for the advice. There is a ton of great info in your post. Had to read it a few times to make sure I got it all. There definitely is a learning curve to all of this and as frustrating as it can be sometimes it's still a blast being in the woods and trying to figure it all out. Best of luck this season!

 

[DeerCamp]

Middle Tennessee

I've been hunting in Tennessee for 2 decades now, but I grew up in New Mexico hunting the Guadalupe mountains, so I feel your adjustment struggle.

If you are hunting a WMA that has a lot of mature oaks, it's gonna be really hard to pin the deer down right now. And it's still pre-rut so movement is predictable but not widespread. A doe's home range is averaging about 40 acres, and bucks are just now starting to mill around.

My advice would be to spend plenty of time scouting for deer sign, particularly white oaks that show signs of acorn feeding. Then set up on trails that are leading to that area.

WMAs can be tough, especially depending on what part of the state your are in.

 

[Brokenbow]

I've been hunting in Tennessee for 2 decades now, but I grew up in New Mexico hunting the Guadalupe mountains, so I feel your adjustment struggle.

If you are hunting a WMA that has a lot of mature oaks, it's gonna be really hard to pin the deer down right now. And it's still pre-rut so movement is predictable but not widespread. A doe's home range is averaging about 40 acres, and bucks are just now starting to mill around.

My advice would be to spend plenty of time scouting for deer sign, particularly white oaks that show signs of acorn feeding. Then set up on trails that are leading to that area.

WMAs can be tough, especially depending on what part of the state your are in.

If it works out I'm heading to South East New Mexico in January chasing mule deer during the rut. Thank you so much for the advice there is definitely a learning curve to this whitetail hunting. Best of luck this season!