Where the deer are
Posted By
michigan
at
12/6/2009 12:00:00 AM
The point of this entry is to offer some tips on what the deer are doing right now in Michigan.
So what are they doing?
Nothing.
Not trying to be flip but the gun season ended less than a week ago. In case you've forgotten, about 700,000 people just spent 16 days in the woods. That will certainly put a halt to just about all natural movement -- especially among mature bucks. The key right now isn't so much in what the deer are doing, it's in what the hunters are doing.
If you're fortunate enough to have access to a piece of ground that isn't hunted by others, the problem is much easier to solve. Simply keep the hunting pressure to a minimum and you should soon be seeing deer again if you're not already. For the rest of us who share our hunting grounds with others, you have to spend some serious time in observation mode. I do not intend to seriously hunt again until this coming weekend. I haven't hunted since the day before Thanksgiving. It's not that I don't want to hunt. I do. But I have simply made an investment in observation time that I hope will pay off.
I have spent my time watching cut corn and bean fields from afar. Grain fields are top bill right now -- and they will only get stronger as the weather turns colder. Alfalfa can produce but when it's really cold, they'll take grain over hay most of the time. I'm not only looking for deer, I'm looking for signs of other hunters. If I see an area was hunted right on through the end of gun season or was hunted during the opening weekend of the muzzleloader season, I will pretty much abandon that parcel. Why? Becuase I simply do not think a mature buck will step foot on that parcel in daylight. Sure, it may be an extreme view. But I've spent a lot of years trying to convince myself that a mature buck will still move under those conditions. I have yet to see it happen.
Any property that was hunted lightly during the gun season -- particularly the last week or so -- will get extra attention. If it doesn't have any muzzleloading pressure, then I may have found an area that will produce some deer. If it has food, I'm in the chips. But the key is waiting until I know for sure that a buck I want to kill is feeding in that field.
During the late stages of the season, I do not hunt anywhere but field edges. We don't have big chunks of timber. The woodlots we do have are, for the most part, fairly open except for areas of thicker cover that are almost always primary bedding areas. You simply can not hunt those areas now. Sure, you can infringe upon those areas during the rut. But after two weeks of heavy hunting pressure, you have to be smart and patient. With the onset of cold, snowy weather deer will be on their feet to eat. They must or they die. Bucks have been running ragged during the rut and the need to refuel is great. Let that be your advantage.
I have to see a buck at least twice from a distance before I'll move in to actually hunt that deer. Why? Because the late season is almost always a "one and done" scenario. We have big fields with limited entry and exit points. When deer hit the fields in evenings, they tend to stay until well after dark. Unless you're willing and able to sit for several hours in the dark, you will spook deer when you leave the field. And the second that happens, your chances of killing a good buck there are almost zero.
So you have to wait until you're fairly certain the buck you want to shoot is using that field. Then you have to wait for the right wind. And then you have to hope the buck comes out the evening you choose to hunt. Because the odds of getting a second chance are slim to none. Why haven't I mentioned mornings? In my experience, morning are a terrible time to hunt in the late season unless you're able to get in an area deer travel through on their way to bed. You have to be able to access that area without disturbing the deer that are almost certainly feeding in the fields in the dark. I don't have any areas where that's possible so I limit my late season hunts to evening only.
The late season can be a great time to tag a good buck. But it's a time when you absolutely must scout more than you hunt. And you have to be almost perfect to get the job done.
Tony H.
So what are they doing?
Nothing.
Not trying to be flip but the gun season ended less than a week ago. In case you've forgotten, about 700,000 people just spent 16 days in the woods. That will certainly put a halt to just about all natural movement -- especially among mature bucks. The key right now isn't so much in what the deer are doing, it's in what the hunters are doing.
If you're fortunate enough to have access to a piece of ground that isn't hunted by others, the problem is much easier to solve. Simply keep the hunting pressure to a minimum and you should soon be seeing deer again if you're not already. For the rest of us who share our hunting grounds with others, you have to spend some serious time in observation mode. I do not intend to seriously hunt again until this coming weekend. I haven't hunted since the day before Thanksgiving. It's not that I don't want to hunt. I do. But I have simply made an investment in observation time that I hope will pay off.
I have spent my time watching cut corn and bean fields from afar. Grain fields are top bill right now -- and they will only get stronger as the weather turns colder. Alfalfa can produce but when it's really cold, they'll take grain over hay most of the time. I'm not only looking for deer, I'm looking for signs of other hunters. If I see an area was hunted right on through the end of gun season or was hunted during the opening weekend of the muzzleloader season, I will pretty much abandon that parcel. Why? Becuase I simply do not think a mature buck will step foot on that parcel in daylight. Sure, it may be an extreme view. But I've spent a lot of years trying to convince myself that a mature buck will still move under those conditions. I have yet to see it happen.
Any property that was hunted lightly during the gun season -- particularly the last week or so -- will get extra attention. If it doesn't have any muzzleloading pressure, then I may have found an area that will produce some deer. If it has food, I'm in the chips. But the key is waiting until I know for sure that a buck I want to kill is feeding in that field.
During the late stages of the season, I do not hunt anywhere but field edges. We don't have big chunks of timber. The woodlots we do have are, for the most part, fairly open except for areas of thicker cover that are almost always primary bedding areas. You simply can not hunt those areas now. Sure, you can infringe upon those areas during the rut. But after two weeks of heavy hunting pressure, you have to be smart and patient. With the onset of cold, snowy weather deer will be on their feet to eat. They must or they die. Bucks have been running ragged during the rut and the need to refuel is great. Let that be your advantage.
I have to see a buck at least twice from a distance before I'll move in to actually hunt that deer. Why? Because the late season is almost always a "one and done" scenario. We have big fields with limited entry and exit points. When deer hit the fields in evenings, they tend to stay until well after dark. Unless you're willing and able to sit for several hours in the dark, you will spook deer when you leave the field. And the second that happens, your chances of killing a good buck there are almost zero.
So you have to wait until you're fairly certain the buck you want to shoot is using that field. Then you have to wait for the right wind. And then you have to hope the buck comes out the evening you choose to hunt. Because the odds of getting a second chance are slim to none. Why haven't I mentioned mornings? In my experience, morning are a terrible time to hunt in the late season unless you're able to get in an area deer travel through on their way to bed. You have to be able to access that area without disturbing the deer that are almost certainly feeding in the fields in the dark. I don't have any areas where that's possible so I limit my late season hunts to evening only.
The late season can be a great time to tag a good buck. But it's a time when you absolutely must scout more than you hunt. And you have to be almost perfect to get the job done.
Tony H.
