Early Season Strategy

Wow! July is almost here and I'm am starting to get the fever for some whitetail action.

Most of my hunting is done in deep big woods pockets. Its what I do best but, early season can be tough for me. With the heat and humidity we have here in the south even on those cool morning walks I end up sweating like a pig before I make it up in my stand. I plan on trying my luck on some ag fields early on this season but , my knowledge of set ups ain't that keen.

Here's what I had in mind any pointers would be very appreciated.

I plan on finding a field that isn't visible from a road setting up 100 or less yards off the edge and preferably in a corner.

If it is a soybeen field i would set up right on the edge and see where they are coming out and go from there. A corner is always a good spot to start.

if its a corn field then id set up off the edge and try and find their travel routs in and out of the corn field.

TheRomer wrote:

If it is a soybeen field i would set up right on the edge and see where they are coming out and go from there. A corner is always a good spot to start.

if its a corn field then id set up off the edge and try and find their travel routs in and out of the corn field.

X2

If you can glass it before the season opens that will better your odds on seeing where they are coming out,here in a month or so we will be at our Ky farms every evening we can glassing them.Good luck to ya

volway wrote:

If you can glass it before the season opens that will better your odds on seeing where they are coming out,here in a month or so we will be at our Ky farms every evening we can glassing them.Good luck to ya

That will help for sure. You might wanna also put out a trail cam or two which will help as a scouting tool when your not there...

Ag fields are great early season, but I don't recomend hunting them in the mornings at all. Like everyone else stated, glass them and set trail cameras. Get them patterned and then move in for the kill. Like hunting fields anytime during the year, your first couple of times in that stand are going to be your best chance at killling one there. Almost everytime you get out of a stand along a field edge you are going to bump deer. After a few times of that the mature bucks are going to be waiting until well after dark to enter the field. Good luck.

Well I plan on going up to where I hunt mid July and I believe most of the fields are beans so I will definitly do some glassing. Ill take some pics and post them.

TheRomer wrote:

If it is a soybeen field i would set up right on the edge and see where they are coming out and go from there. A corner is always a good spot to start.

if its a corn field then id set up off the edge and try and find their travel routs in and out of the corn field.

X3 same here.

I love hunting the edges of remote fields also, but in my experince you need to be very aware of your scent control and if you hunt the corners it is even more important. There is no set wind direction in a corner. It swirls like crazy. I have gotten busted in a corner to many time in a perfect wind. But I still love the corner and will never stop.

Camoed Assassin wrote:

Ag fields are great early season, but I don't recomend hunting them in the mornings at all. Like everyone else stated, glass them and set trail cameras. Get them patterned and then move in for the kill. Like hunting fields anytime during the year, your first couple of times in that stand are going to be your best chance at killling one there. Almost everytime you get out of a stand along a field edge you are going to bump deer. After a few times of that the mature bucks are going to be waiting until well after dark to enter the field. Good luck.

I agree with CA on that. A few times in and out of the stand will drive the mature bucks nocturnal.

Camoed Assassin wrote:

Ag fields are great early season, but I don't recomend hunting them in the mornings at all.

Agreed, hunt bedding areas in the Morning. But be careful, you don't want to run Bucks out before the prime time. Stay off aways, along the travel route from night time feeding areas, closer to bedding then food. The just the opposite in the afternoon. Also, hunt water sources when the temps are up there, and hunt over them all day if you can stand it.

Everyone has hit the keys points that I use in determining my stand locations. I also take what the weather has done for a couple of days before hunting a stand location as it has effects on there movement. In the mornings I hunt in the woods between the food source and their bedding area and in the evenings is when I hunt the field edges. Good luck.

For early season I have a leafy net suit & I some underarmor shorts & shirt. When I get in & set up I pour a bottle of water on me to wash the sweat off & it helps me to cool off. I've walked in & set up in 92deg + heat using this method & had to drag a sorry buck out that ran 75yds in the wrong direction.

The only thing I tend to do differently during early season is to hunt crop fields more often and don't burn up my days off till the rut hits. Besids that spotlight the fields at night to see if there are any different buck showing up.