wild guide: plan for success
Natural mineral licks can be outstanding places to monitor
movement with a trail camera, then ambush a target buck.
EARLY SEASON BOW HUNTING
In my home province of Alberta, some
management units open as early as August
25, with the balance opening the first of
September. In late summer, with the warm
and typically mild weather, deer are still in
their relaxed summer bedding and feeding
patterns. Antlers are in velvet - at least
for another week or two – and most of the
bigger bucks have not yet turned nocturnal.
With a little luck, spring scouting forays
may have revealed a natural mineral lick
or two. These can be honey holes when
the weather is hot and dry. The first couple
weeks of the season are ideal times to sit
in a tree stand or a ground blind at these
natural draws. With lush green foliage
readily concealing deer at this time of the
year, natural mineral licks are not only an
attractant, but they are perfect for forcing
exposure. In Planning for Success - Part I, I
stressed the value of placing trail cameras.
Few hot spots are more productive during
the warm summer months than natural
mineral licks. Choose your stand or
blind location wisely and these are high
percentage ambush locations – especially
for the early season bow hunter.
Few of us mention September when
we discuss the rut cycle, but I’d be remiss
not to mention the transition that kicks it
all off. Almost all whitetail and mule deer
bucks shed their velvet by the second week
of the month. Whitetails especially, begin
their earliest pre-rut rituals of traveling
to lay down territorial boundary rubs and
scrapes. With harvest just around the
corner, many cereal crops are still standing
in September and deer can move freely into
those open areas with little more than their
antlers exposed. Relaxed, bucks follow
consistent routines before losing their
velvet, but as soon as this transition occurs,
they quickly become less predictable and
the biggest of deer quickly turn nocturnal.
For this brief window of opportunity as
bucks hold their velvet, early season bow
hunters can sometimes decipher a buck’s
routine, set up, and close the deal.
During these earliest days of the season,
hunting over dugouts, well-worn creek
crossings, field edges, and pinch points
on travel routes to and from bedding
and feeding areas, can produce shot
opportunities. Even still, deer are only
motivated to sleep, eat, drink, and find
protective cover at this time, so their
movement is most visible at first and last
light. With limited movement and heavy
foliage on the trees, most big bucks taken in
the early season are shot under lower-light
conditions.
Spend time behind your binocular and
spotting scope. Watching deer enter and
exit woodlots at dawn and dusk continues
to be a wise investment. With a little luck,
you’ll confirm what you learned about deer
movement during earlier scouting forays.
Ideally, you’ll locate one or more of the
bucks whose sheds you found last winter
or spring and pinpoint some of the deer
you’ve got on camera. When this happens,
the pieces of the puzzle will begin to come
together. Remember, in agricultural areas
canola fields in bloom, standing alfalfa,
and pea fields are deer magnets. Out east,
soybean and corn fields are great places to
check as well. If you’re in a province or state
that allows baiting or food plots, be sure to
check them regularly to see what’s visiting.
On many occasions, I’ve watched deer
for a week before the early season archery
opener, patterned them to a given trail,
placed a stand, and had a shot opportunity
the first or second time I sat. But hunt long
enough, and you soon learn that those
scenarios aren’t necessarily that common.
Why? Because, right about the time deer
seasons open, daylight, weather, and
several biological changes occur in a deer’s
world that shake things up. Consequently,
movement patterns abruptly change, often
leaving us scratching our heads.
Wild Guide
. Fall 2017
26