New month and new strategies.
Posted By
Wisconsin
at
12/2/2009 12:00:00 AM
Wow! This season has been one of the most difficult and frustrating years in a long time for me. I am sure I am not the only one feeling this way. It seems to be a pretty common trend across the pro staff and everyone else. The Wisconsin DNR came out with their preliminary numbers for the 2009 nine day gun deer season. In 2008 276,895 deer were killed compared to this years total of 195,647. We are down approx 29% from last year.
This year I think we can come up with a number of variables that were factors in the decrease of deer kill numbers. Weather is undoubtedly the main factor. The bottom line is a person could go on for a long time and make excuses and a lot of the excuses are valid.
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/news/BreakingNews_Lookup.asp?id=1511
Here is the link to the WDNR News Release.
You could go on forever about how bad the past weeks have been, but now it is time to focus how to be successful going into December for those who still have tags to fill. Believe it or not some of the best hunting is ahead of us. Temperatures will be falling and the deer will be easier to pattern. The deer will now start to group up. They will typically move as one large unit moving from their beds straight to the food. They waste no time and are focused intently on eating in preparation for the winter months ahead. I have had very little success hunting mornings in December. Dawn is usually the coldest part of the day and the deer wait until the woods warms up a few degrees before they move. I would still skip the mornings altogether and focus all of your energy on afternoon hunting. 1:00 – closing time is the best time to hunt late season.
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| Cameras can be a help in locating bucks after the gun season. |
The deer this time of year have been educated and are extremely sensitive to any foreign scents or noises. Entrance and exit routes are more important now than ever. Pick stand placements close to food sources that allow you to get in and out of a stand undetected. Be sure to play the wind and dress for the weather utilizing moisture wicking base layers and wind proof outer layers. Some of my stands this time of year are one-hit wonders. In other words there is no way I can leave my stand at closing without spooking deer from the food sources. I get only one shot at this stand. In cases like this, watch the weather, look for fronts coming in and pick the one day you think is the best and go for it.
Good Luck Hunting and Stay Warm, Cole T. Sandstrom
