The Home Stretch
Posted By
michigan
at
12/28/2009 12:00:00 AM
Well, I'm taking a 30 minute break before heading back to the woods. I have two treestand sets that I need to move and a food plot that needs checking.
I've hunted every day since Dec. 23 and have seen exactly four deer in that time. With five days left in the season and not much movement happening, it would be very, very easy to just go through the motions. But I can't do that. I have big dreams for this season and almost nothing has gone as planned. I'm not whining about the way the year went, it's really just a statement of fact. It's been a really tough year here in Michigan.
But I still have five days. There are still bucks in the woods. And there are certainly does to thin out. I intend to hunt as hard as I can and in the best locations I can find. The only way I know how to hunt effectively is to hunt confidently. Which is why I'll trudge through the snow, fight the bitter wind and endure hours of inaction just for those few moments when the deer get on their feet and move towards food.
I have never been more perplexed about deer movement than I have this late season. It's cold. We have snow. I am hunting areas that have standing corn, cut corn, cut beans, hay, acorns -- pretty much the gamut of food sources. And I simply am not seeing deer like I would expect. Hunting pressure has certainly had an impact -- this late gun season for does only does not help us kill more deer. But it's more than that. Several of the areas that I'm trying to hunt have not had heavy pressure since the gun season ended. In the past, those properties have produced fairly reliable action in the evenings. Sure, it's mostly does and fawns hitting the fields but it was never really an issue of seeing a few deer each evening. This year? Nada.
There is still a lot of corn standing in my area. Perhaps those deer are simply holding up in the standing corn and not moving. But I'm not so sure about that. When I check out the other state shows on MidwestWhitetail.com, I see deer that are moving into and out of standing corn fields in the evenings. I have a hard time believing that all of the deer are spending every minute of daylight in the standing corn. They have to be moving somewhere at some time. My job is to find them.
And I've got five days to do it. I'm looking forward to the challenge. Because the alternative -- not hunting and simply waiting for next year -- isn't really all that appealing.
Tony Hansen
I've hunted every day since Dec. 23 and have seen exactly four deer in that time. With five days left in the season and not much movement happening, it would be very, very easy to just go through the motions. But I can't do that. I have big dreams for this season and almost nothing has gone as planned. I'm not whining about the way the year went, it's really just a statement of fact. It's been a really tough year here in Michigan.
But I still have five days. There are still bucks in the woods. And there are certainly does to thin out. I intend to hunt as hard as I can and in the best locations I can find. The only way I know how to hunt effectively is to hunt confidently. Which is why I'll trudge through the snow, fight the bitter wind and endure hours of inaction just for those few moments when the deer get on their feet and move towards food.
I have never been more perplexed about deer movement than I have this late season. It's cold. We have snow. I am hunting areas that have standing corn, cut corn, cut beans, hay, acorns -- pretty much the gamut of food sources. And I simply am not seeing deer like I would expect. Hunting pressure has certainly had an impact -- this late gun season for does only does not help us kill more deer. But it's more than that. Several of the areas that I'm trying to hunt have not had heavy pressure since the gun season ended. In the past, those properties have produced fairly reliable action in the evenings. Sure, it's mostly does and fawns hitting the fields but it was never really an issue of seeing a few deer each evening. This year? Nada.
There is still a lot of corn standing in my area. Perhaps those deer are simply holding up in the standing corn and not moving. But I'm not so sure about that. When I check out the other state shows on MidwestWhitetail.com, I see deer that are moving into and out of standing corn fields in the evenings. I have a hard time believing that all of the deer are spending every minute of daylight in the standing corn. They have to be moving somewhere at some time. My job is to find them.
And I've got five days to do it. I'm looking forward to the challenge. Because the alternative -- not hunting and simply waiting for next year -- isn't really all that appealing.
Tony Hansen
