A Deer Hunter’s Epiphany
Posted By
Hunter Kailos
at
12/6/2011 12:00:00 AM
A Deer Hunter’s Epiphany
I killed my first deer over 23 years ago and have been on a steep learning curve ever since. But it seems like every five or so years I’ll learn something significant that drastically improves my success rate. Back when I was in graduate school taking a class on Native American History, I read that the Indians would cut game trails out of thickets to funnel deer and elk by ambush spots. After thinking on it a little, I figured, if it worked for them, it will work for me.
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So the next summer I cut a nice lane through a doe bedding thicket right past a tree that was easily accessible. Over the next decade, 8 quality bucks (5 Pope and Young) were killed by either myself or one of my hunting partners out of what we’ve named the Hallelujah Tree. All were killed within the first two weeks of November. Based on this history, the last two years I have saved all of my vacation to use during this time. Unfortunately, the first two weeks of November have produced a grand total of one decent buck sighting (11-11-11) during the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
So how is it that I could have had so much success for such a long period of time, but then go on the kind of drought that I am right now? As I was in my eighth hour of blowing around in a tree, the answer began to appear. It came in the form of a video segment that was produced by Team Indiana.
A couple of weeks ago, Team Indiana put out a segment where we discussed our favorite day to hunt. All of us, except one, listed a particular calendar date as our favorite. Many said November, 7 th . I said the last day of the early bow season. All of our reasons were either based on historical success or the timing of the rut. But there was one man who stood out during this segment, Henry Reynolds. Henry based his day around weather. And as I sat there hanging on for dear life in 35 mph winds, the differences between my successful days and unsuccessful days became brilliantly clear. IT’S THE WEATHER STUPID! The years I was successful, the weather was good during my vacation. The last two years the weather has been horrible during my vacation.
Now every experienced hunter knows what a tremendous affect the weather has on deer movement. So my epiphany is that I should no longer try to beat the masses by putting in early for November vacation. November vacation does me absolutely no good if the morning temps are in the 60’s and the winds are out of the South. Instead, I should save my vacation and simply use it when the conditions are right for my hunting locations. I’d much rather hunt one day (say a Wednesday) when the conditions are perfect than to hunt three consecutive days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) when the conditions are awful. Like Henry said, whether it’s October 1, November 1, December 1, or January 1, the best day to be in the woods is determined by the weather. What do you think?
Jarrod Hedrick
Response
Jarrod,
When I watched that segment on Team Indiana's favorite day to be in a tree stand I noticed that everyone picked exact day's. I thought to myself it is extremely hard to pick a particular day that is best because of the weather. Like you said temps in the 60's and very strong winds makes hunting conditions very tough. This year was a tough one. We had alot of warm, windy, rainy day's that we had to contend with. I have a friend from N.C. that came to Indiana to hunt with me. He killed his biggest deer to date sittting in one of my tree stands in November. Very cool, frosty morning with ideal wind conditions. I couldn't help but think that morning, on my way to work, that I should be in a tree. He text me at 11: 37 a.m. with his good fortune. He shot a 140" ten pointer with his bow. I sat that stand on two previous day's with less than ideal weather conditions and did not see a shooter. You can have a great place to hunt but if the weather conditions aren't ideal it could seriously affect your success on certain day's. I just want to say thank you for the kind words and hunt hard and be safe. Maybe someday we may get the chance to meet.
Henry Reynolds
